VOCATIONAL  SERIES 

EDITED   BT 

E.    HERSHEY    SNEATH,    PH.D.,    LL.D.,    YALE    UNIVERSITY 


THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND  JOURNALISM 


VOCATIONAL  SERIES 

EDITED  BY 

E.  HERSHEY  SNEATH 
PH.D.,  LL.D.,  YALB  UNIVERSITY 


THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND  THE  LAW.     SIMEON  E. 

BALDWIN. 
THE    YOUNO    MAN    AND    TEACHING.      HENRY 

PARKS  WRIGHT. 
THE    YOUNG    MAN    AND   CIVIL    ENGINEERING. 

GEORGE  PILLMORE  SWAIN. 
THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND  JOURNALISM.    CHESTER 

S.  LORD. 


THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND 
JOURNALISM 


BY 
CHESTER  S.  LORD,  M.A.,  LL.D. 

For  forty-one  years  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Sun 
and  for  thirty-three  years  (1880-1913)   its  managing  editor 


Sot* 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1922 

All  rights  reserved 


PRINTED  IN   THE   UNITED   STATES   OF  AMERICA 


COPYRIGHT,  1922, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  printed.     Published  November,  1922. 


Press  of 

J.  J.  Little  &  Ives  Company 
New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


EDITOR'S  PROSPECTUS 

One  of  the  most  important  decisions  a  young  man  is 
called  upon  to  make  relates  to  the  determination  of  his 
life-work.  It  is  fraught  with  serious  consequence  for 
him.  It  involves  the  possibilities  of  success  and  fail- 
ure. The  social  order  is  such  that  he  can  best  realize 
his  ends  by  the  pursuit  of  a  vocation.  It  unifies  his 
purposes  and  endeavors  —  making  them  count  for  most 
in  the  struggle  for  existence  and  for  material  welfare. 
It  furnishes  steady  employment  at  a  definite  task  as 
against  changeable  effort  and  an  unstable  task.  This 
makes  for  superior  skill  and  greater  efficiency  which 
result  in  a  larger  gain  to  himself  and  in  a  more  genuine 
contribution  to  the  economic  world. 

But  a  man's  vocation  relates  to  a  much  wider  sphere 
than  the  economic.  It  is  intimately  associated  with 
the  totality  of  his  interests.  It  is  in  a  very  real  sense 
the  center  of  most  of  his  relations  in  life.  His  intel- 
lectual interests  are  seriously  dependent  upon  his  vo- 
cational career.  Not  only  does  the  attainment  of  skill 
and  efficiency  call  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  and 
<  development  of  judgment,  but  the  leisure  that  is  so 
essential  to  the  pursuit  of  those  intellectual  ends  which 
are  a  necessary  part  of  his  general  culture  is,  in  turn, 
dependent,  to  a  considerable  extent,  upon  the  skill  and 
efficiency  that  he  acquires  in  his  vocation. 

v 

494322 


vi  EDITOR'S  PROSPECTUS 

Nor  are  his  social  interests  less  dependent  upon  his 
life-work.  Men  pursuing  the  same  calling  constitute 
in  a  peculiar  sense  a  great  fraternity  or  brotherhood 
bound  together  by  common  interests  and  aims.  These 
condition  much  of  his  social  development.  His  wider 
social  relationships  also  are  dependent,  in  a  large 
measure,  on  the  success  that  he  attains  in  his  chosen 
field  of  labor. 

Even  his  moral  and  spiritual  interests  are  vitally 
centered  in  his  vocation.  The  development  of  will,  the 
steadying  of  purpose,  the  unfolding  of  ideals,  the 
cultivation  of  vocational  virtues,  such  as  industry, 
fidelity,  order,  honesty,  prudence,  thrift,  patience,  per- 
sistence, courage,  self-reliance,  etc. —  all  of  this  makes 
tremendously  for  his  moral  and  spiritual  development. 
The  vocationless  man,  no  matter  to  what  class  he  be- 
longs, suffers  a  great  moral  and  spiritual  disadvantage. 
His  life  lacks  idealization  and  is  therefore  wanting  in 
unity  and  high  moralization.  His  changeable  task, 
with  its  changeable  efforts,  does  not  afford  so  good  an 
opportunity  for  the  development  of  the  economic  and 
social  virtues  as  that  afforded  the  man  who  pursues  a 
definite  life-work.  It  lacks  also  that  discipline  —  not 
only  mental,  but  moral  —  which  the  attainment  of  vo- 
cational skill  and  efficiency  involves. 

But  notwithstanding  the  important  issues  involved 
in  a  man's  vocational  career,  little  has  been  done  in 
a  practical  or  systematic  way  to  help  our  college  young 
men  to  a  wise  decision  in  the  determination  of  their 


EDITOR'S  PROSPECTUS  vii 

life-work.  Commendable  efforts  are  being  put  forth 
in  our  public  schools  in  this  direction,  but  very  little, 
indeed,  has  been  done  in  this  respect  in  the  sphere  of 
higher  education.  To  any  one  familiar  with  the  strug- 
gles of  the  average  college  student  in  his  efforts  to 
settle  this  weighty  question  for  himself,  the  perplex- 
ities, embarrassment,  and  apparent  helplessness  are  pa- 
thetic. This  is  due  largely  to  his  ignorance  of  the 
nature  of  the  professions  and  other  vocations  which 
appeal  most  strongly  to  the  college  man.  Conse- 
quently, he  does  not  know  how  to  estimate  his  fitness  for 
them.  He  cannot  advise  to  any  extent  with  his  father, 
^because  he  represents  only  one  vocation.  Neither  can 
he  advise  advantageously  with  his  instructor  for  he, 
too,  is  familiar  with  the  nature  of  only  one  profession. 
For  this  reason,  a  series  of  books,  dealing  with  the 
leading  vocations,  and  prepared  by  men  of  large  ability 
and  experience,  capable  of  giving  wise  counsel,  is  a 
desideratum.  Such  men  are  competent  to  explain  the 
nature  and  divisions  of  the  particular  vocations  which 
they  represent,  the  personal  and  educational  qualifica- 
tions necessary  for  a  successful  pursuit  of  the  same, 
the  advantages  and  disadvantages,  the  difficulties  and 
temptations,  the  opportunities  and  ideals ;  thus,  in  an 
adequate  way,  enabling  the  student  to  estimate  his  own 
fitness  for  them.  They  are  also  able  to  make  valuable 
suggestions  relating  to  the  man's  work  after  he  enters 
upon  his  vocation. 


viii  EDITOR'S  PROSPECTUS 

Fortunately,  in  the  present  Series,  the  Editor  has 
been  able  to  secure  the  services  of  some  of  the  most 
eminent  experts  in  the  country  to  prepare  the  respec- 
tive volumes  —  men  of  large  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence, who  have  attained  wide  recognition  and  genuine 
success  in  their  "  callings."  It  is  a  pleasure  to  be 
able  to  place  at  the  command  of  the  many  thousands 
of  students  in  our  American  colleges  the  wise  counsel 
of  such  experienced  and  distinguished  men. 

The  "Vocational  Series"  will  consist  of  twelve  books 
written  by  representatives  of  different  vocations,  as  fol- 
low: 

1.  The  Young  Man  and  the  Law 

Hon.  Simeon  E.  Baldwin,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Law, 
Emeritus,  Yale  University,  ex-Governor  and  ex- 
Chief  Justice  of  Connecticut 

2.  The  Young  Man  and  the  Ministry 

Rev.  Charles  R.  Brown,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Dean  of  the 
Divinity   School,   Yale  University. 
8.    The  Young  Man  and  Teaching 

Professor  Henry  Parks  Wright,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Pro- 
fessor Emeritus  and  formerly  Dean  of  Yale  College 

4.  The  Young  Man  and  Medicine 

Lewellys  F.  Barker,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of 
Medicine  and  Chief  Physician,  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity 

5.  The  Young  Man  and  Journalism 

Chester  Sanders  Lord,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  formerly  Man- 
aging Editor  New  York  Sun 


EDITOR'S  PROSPECTUS  ix 

6.  The  Young  Man  and  Banking 

Hon.  Frank  A.  Vanderlip,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  formerly 
President  of  the  City  National  Bank,  New  York 

7.  The  Young  Man  and  Business 

8.  The  Young  Man  and  Mechanical  Engineering 

Lester  P.  Breckenridge,  M.A.,  Eng.D.,  Professor  of 
Mechanical  Engineering,  Sheffield  Scientific  School, 
Yale  University 

9.  The  Young  Man  and  Electrical  Engineering 

Charles  F.  Scott,  Sc.D.,  Eng.D.,  Professor  of  Elec- 
trical Engineering,  Sheffield  Scientific  School,  Yale 
University 

10.  The  Young  Man  and  Civil  Engineering 

George  F.  Swain,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Civil  Engi- 
neering, Harvard  University 

11.  The  Young  Man  and  Farming 

L.  H.  Bailey,  M.S.,  LL.D.,  formerly  Director  of 
College  of  Agriculture,  Cornell  University,  and  Ed- 
itor of  Cyclopedia  of  American  Horticulture,  Rural 
Science  Series,  Garden  Craft  Series,  Rural  Text- 
Book  Series,  Cyclopedia  of  Agriculture,  etc. 

12.  The  Young  Man  and  Government  Service 

Hon.  William  Howard  Taft,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  ex- 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 

E.  HEESHEY  SNEATH. 


BY  WAY  OF  EXPLANATION 

{-The  sole  object  of  the  following  chapters  is  to  tell  a 
young  man  what  is  likely  to  happen  to  him  if  he  goes  into 
the  newspaper  business. 

Many  young  men  think  of  entering  journalism,  but 
journalism  is  to  them  a  maze  of  mystery.  .What  does 
it  offer  as  a  profession  or  a  vocation?  they  ask.  What 
is  the  nature  of  the  business  ?  ^  What  are  its  rewards  ? 
Naturally  enough  they  continue  to  wonder  what  kind  of 
preparatory  study  is  desirable.  How  does  a  young  man 
make  a  beginning  and  how  does  the  beginner  make  prog- 
ress? What  are  the  recognized  standards  of  newspaper 
success?  How  is  news  collected  and  prepared  for  the 
public?  How  is  a  newspaper  conducted?  What  are  the 
duties  of  each  member  of  a  big  newspaper  staff  ?  *  What 
goes  on  in  a  newspaper  office,  any  way  ?J] 
[  The  book  was  begun  with  the  intention  of  answering 
some  of  these  queries,  but  it  gradually  drifted  into  talk 
about  various  phases  and  features  of  the  business.  The 
original  intention  has  not  been  lost  sight  of,  however.  The 
purpose  is  to  indicate  what  journalism  offers  to  a  young 
man  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  It  seeks  neither  to  glorify 
nor  to  disparage  the  newspaper. 

The  book  is  elementary:  not  intended  or  expected  to 
interest  or  inform  newspaper  editors  of  experience.  *i 

C.  S.  L. 

Brooklyn,  New  York, 

Nineteen  hundred  and  twenty  two. 


CONTENTS 


I.  BEGINNING  IN  NEWSPAPER  WORK — THE  REPORTER'S 
FIRST  EXPERIENCES — His  PROGRESS — UNPLEASANT 
TASKS 1 

II.     THE  COLLECTION  or  NEWS  AND  ITS  PREPARATION  FOR 

PRINT 29 

III.  NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION — THE   ART  OF  WRITING  IN 

SIMPLE  YET  ENTERTAINING  FASHION     ....       51 

IV.  THE    FASCINATION   OF   WRITING   FOR   THE    EDITORIAL 

PAGE 74 

V.     WHAT  TO  PRINT — THE  PROBLEM  OF  How  TO  INTEREST 

AND  INFORM  THE  READER 87 

VI.  THE  PLEASING  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  FOREIGN  CORRE- 
SPONDENT   106 

VII.    THE  TECHNICAL  PRESS 115 

VIII.     THE    VILLAGE    NEWSPAPER'S    IMPORTANT    PLACE    IN 

AMERICAN   JOURNALISM 125 

IX.     THE  DAILY  NEWSPAPER  IN  THE  SMALL  CITY      .     .      .     138 

X.      THE    REWARDS   OF   JOURNALISM — THEY   ARE    FOUND 

CHIEFLY  IN  CONGENIAL  EMPLOYMENT   .      .      .      .     144 

XI.  NEWSPAPER  INFLUENCE — WAYS  OF  PERSUADING  THE 
PUBLIC — COMMUNITY  SERVICE  AND  SERVICE  TO  THE 
GOVERNMENT 159 

XII.     THE  STUDY  OF  A  SPECIALTY — GREAT  ADVANTAGE  FOL- 
LOWS THE  MASTERY  OF  Two  OR  THREE  SUBJECTS     .     179 

XIII.  THE  ACTIVITIES  AND  PATRIOTIC  SERVICE  OF  NEWSPAPERS 

IN  TIMES  OF  WAR 185 

XIV.  NEWSPAPER  HISTORY — THE  MODERN  NEWSPAPER     .     .     197 


THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND  JOURNALISM 


THE  YOUNG  MAN 
AND  JOURNALISM 


CHAPTER  I 

BEGINNING  IN  NEWSPAPER  WORK— THE  RE- 
PORTER'S FIRST   EXPERIENCES- 
UNPLEASANT  TASKS 

THE  beginner  in  newspaper  work  usually  starts  as  a 
reporter  of  the  simplest  and  most  unimportant  kind 
of  routine  news.  The  city  editor  tells  him  what  to  do 
and  how  to  do  it.  The  start  is  made  easy  for  him. 
The  prevailing  supposition  that  reporters  go  out  into 
the  streets  and  hunt  for  news  is  far  from  fact.  They 
do  so  in  the  small  cities  but  not  for  big  newspapers. 

Newsgathering  has  become  vastly  systematized. 
Nineteen  twentieths  of  the  news  comes  through  estab- 
lished channels  of  information  and  this  explains  why 
nearly  all  newspapers  have  the  same  facts.  The 
sources  of  information  are  known  in  all  newspaper 
offices.  If  a  man  falls  dead  in  the  street,  or  a  fire 
starts  in  an  important  building,  or  an  automobile 
crushes  a  child,  or  anything  unusual  happens  in  any 
street,  it  is  known  to  every  city  editor  within  a  few 

1 


2  THE   YOUNG   MAN    AND    JOURNALISM 

minul  es ;  for  a  policeman  reports  it  to  police  head- 
quarters immediately,  and  reporters  grab  it.  Similarly, 
shipping  news  is  sent  to  the  ship-news  office;  cases  of 
sudden  or  unexplained  death  must  be  made  public  by 
official  physicians;  public  parades  and  demonstrations 
are  anticipated  through  the  permit  bureau,  and  so  on. 
All  day  and  all  night  this  kind  of  news  pours  in  to 
the  city  editor.  With  almost  instant  judgment  he 
decides  on  its  news  value,  discards  it  or  hustles  a  re- 
porter for  the  details.  The  new  man  gets  the  least 
important  of  this  kind  of  work. 

The  city  editor  keeps  a  future  book — like  milady's 
engagement  calendar — in  which  under  proper  date  he 
records  the  events  to  be  of  that  day:  business  meet- 
ings, conventions,  adjourned  cases,  public  dinners, 
everything  and  anything  requiring  the  presence  of  a 
reporter.  It  is  one  of  the  important  factors  of  the 
newsgetting  system.  Its  proper  keeping  involves  con- 
stant drudgery  and  painstaking  care  in  the  reading  of 
newspapers  for  announcements  or  for  clews  to  any- 
thing that  is  to  happen.  He  reads,  for  instance,  that 
an  important  business  meeting  has  appointed  a  spe- 
cial committee  to  report  at  the  next  meeting;  but  no 
date  of  the  next  meeting  is  given.  So  he  asks  the  new 
reporter,  maybe,  to  ascertain  and  record  it  in  the  fu- 
ture book.  The  new  man  does  many  such  errands, 
verifies  many  statements  of  fact,  chases  down  many 
rumors. 

In  the  great  blizzard  of  March,  1888,  when  all  trans- 
portation lines  in  New  York  City  were  abandoned  came 


REPORTERS   AND   REPORTING  3 

the  story  that  several  funeral  processions  were  snowed 
under  in  Greenwood  cemetery.  A  new  reporter  was 
sent.  He  toiled  through  storm  and  snow  waist  deep 
to  the  burial  place  and  back,  a  task  requiring  some- 
thing like  six  hours  to  accomplish,  and  ended  the  day's 
experience  by  thawing  out  his  frozen  feet  in  a  bucket 
of  water.  And  what  he  wrote  was:  "The  rumor  that 
three  funeral  processions  were  snowed  under  in  Green- 
wood cemetery  was  found  on  investigation  to  be  un- 
true^' 

JjXThe  city  editor  has  many  sources  of  information 
similar  to  those  just  mentioned.  In  the  big  cities  he 
is  responsible  for  getting  the  news  of  the  urban  dis- 
trict, a  task  that  involves  almost  every  kind  of  news- 
getting.  This  is  especially  true  of  New  York  City, 
for  taken  all  in  all  nearly  everything  happens  in  New 
York  than  can  happen  anywhere.  It  is  of  metropolitan 
reporting  that  we  are  speaking  just  now. 

The  new  reporter  is  asked  to  make  news  reports  of 
the  simplest  of  happenings.  The  narration  of  or- 
dinary events  is  the  easiest  of  all  newspaper  writing. 
Any  intelligent  high  school  boy  can  catch  the  knack 
of  it  and  many  a  bright  newspaper  office  boy  has  gone 
on  to  better  things  by  absorbing  that  knack.  It  is 
easy  to  acquire  because  it  may  be  largely  imitative — 
that  if-j  almost  all  routine  news  reports  are  written  in 
the  same  groove  of  construction  and  in  very  much  the 
same  language,  year  in  and  year  out,  for  news  topics 
constantly  repeat  themselves. 

By  routine  reports  are  meant  accounts   of  public 


4  THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

meetings,  conventions,  legislative  proceedings,  trials 
in  the  courts,  market  reports,  accidents,  fires,  suicides 
and  petty  crimes.  These  things  are  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  newspapers.  They  constitute  a  large 
proportion  of  the  news  of  the  day.  They  are  the 
very  life  of  the  news  columns  as  presenting  a  record 
of  the  day's  events.  They  are  easy  to  write  because 
they  are  written  in  the  same  manner  day  after  day  for 
they  are  constantly  recurring.  The  puzzled  young 
writer  cannot  go  far  astray  if  he  turns  back  in  the 
newspaper  files  to  a  similar  meeting  or  accident  or 
event  and  imitates  that  report.  But  let  him  be  warned 
that  if  he  continues  to  work  in  that  way  he  becomes  a 
routine  writer,  a  hack  reporter,  and  his  advancement 
ceases. 

It  is  in  this  deadly  dull  routine  writing  of  routine 
news  that  we  have  our  poorest  and  most  slovenly 
newspaper  results.  The  indifferent  work  done  in  this 
direction  is  more  conspicuous  in  the  London  news- 
papers than  in  our  own  for  there  news  reports  have 
been  reduced  almost  to  formula. 

We  have  said  that  the  dates  of  fixed  events  to  come 
are  accumulated  in  the  future  book — meetings  of  all 
sorts,  lectures,  balls,  sporting  contests,  celebrations, 
ceremonials,  excursions  and  the  like,  of  which  the  num- 
ber and  the  variety  are  innumerable.  To  each  of  these 
a  reporter  is  sent.  Usually  he  is  told  before  he  starts 
about  how  long  an  article  is  expected  of  him.  But  he 
is  charged  to  note  especially  anything  unusual,  odd, 
strange,  or  queer  that  may  happen  or  be  said.  And  al- 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING          5 

ways  he  must  report  to  the  desk,  before  he  begins  to 
write,  for  instructions  as  to  the  exact  length  of  his 
article.  Often  two  or  three  reporters  are  sent  to  a 
big  meeting,  one  to  write  the  introduction,  another  the 
first  half  of  the  speaking  and  a  third  the  remaining 
part  of  the  proceedings.  This  is  to  save  time;  and 
often  the  first  half  has  been  written  and  is  in  type  before 
the  last  man  has  quit  the  meeting.  Likewise  in  cases 
of  big  disasters,  big  celebrations,  big  sporting  events, 
six  or  eight  men  are  sent,  each  with  a  definite  part  to 
cover.  Each  writes  his  part  and  the  copy  reader  dove- 
tails them  together  into  one  continuous  article.  Team 
work  of  this  sort  is  common  enough  in  big  offices. 

The  new  reporter  gets  his  fling  at  all  of  this  kind  of 
work.  If  he  has  the  genuine  newspaper  spirit  he  is 
fascinated  by  his  every  experience.  He  searches  the 
paper  eagerly  for  the  bit  he  has  contributed.  With 
a  glow  of  satisfaction  he  contemplates  his  little  record 
of  a  news  event  standing  out  in  clear  type,  and  he 
reads  it  again  with  those  shivery  gusts  of  emotion  some- 
times called  "the  thrill  of  authorship." 

After  a  time,  from  the  writing  of  petty  paragraphs, 
he  finds  himself  contributing  articles  a  third  or  a  half 
a  column  in  length.  The  older  men  begin  to  notice  his 
work,  speak  to  him  in  praise  of  a  well-constructed 
sentence  or  a  nicety  of  verbal  expression,  ask  him  to 
come  along  with  them  to  the  beanery  for  a  taste  of 
coffee  and  cakes  before  going  home  for  the  night.  He 
begins  to  participate  in  that  most  helpful  and  stimu- 
lating thing — the  comradeship  of  the  office.  He  comes 


6  THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

daily  in  contact  with  forty  or  fifty  men — garrulous 
veterans,  and  middle-aged  marvels,  and  youthful 
geniuses  who  are  doing  all  kinds  of  newspaper  stunts 
from  constructing  ponderous  editorial  articles  and  cri- 
ticisms to  exploiting  The  Stiletto  in  Stanton  Street  or 
The  Bludgeon  on  the  Battery.  These  men  are  good- 
natured  critics  of  each  other's  work  and  not  less  ready 
to  praise  than  to  condemn  or  question.  They  take 
interest  in  a  new  man  of  promise  and  help  him.  They 
read  the  newspapers  and  the  periodicals,  and  the  new 
books — for  an  intimate  knowledge  of  contemporaneous 
events  is  essential  to  their  progress.  There  are  few 
dullards  among  them,  few  without  positive  opinions 
and  a  vocabulary  to  express  them.  Our  young  man 
greatly  enjoys  their  explosive  comments  and  their  fero- 
cious conclusions.  They  are  so  alert,  so  alive  to  every- 
thing that  is  going  on.  Their  conversation  is  so  in- 
teresting to  him.  The  atmosphere  is  surcharged  with 
good  fellowship.  Nobody  is  taking  himself  very  seri- 
ously yet  everybody  is  doing  something  in  a  business- 
like way.  Somehow  things  are  different  in  the  news- 
paper office  from  what  he  had  expected.^ 

The  business  of  reporting  becomes  more  fascinating 
as  the  reporter,  gaining  in  skill  and  in  ability,  achieves 
to  higher  grade  work.  To  write  of  big  and  important 
events  becomes  his  ambition.  It  gives  him  prestige 
among  his  fellows,  for  it  is  the  management's  testi- 
monial of  confidence  in  him.  Not  until  after  careful 
consideration  does  the  managing  editor  name  the  men 
who  are  to  report  a  national  political  convention,  or 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING          7 

the  inauguration  of  a  president  of  the  United  States, 
or  a  great  celebration.  The  very  best  members  of  the 
staff  are  summoned  to  write  of  such  events  and  the 
assignment  comes  to  be  considered  as  an  office  reward 
of  merit. 

To  do  the  big  thing  of  the  day  is  one  of  the  prizes 
of  the  reportorial  business.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  of 
the  newspaper  man,  that  from  his  earliest  beginnings 
always  there  is  something  higher  to  be  attained  until 
he  becomes  the  editor  in  chief. 

In  the  newspaper  offices  of  cities  of  the  larger  size, 
reporters  develop  into  desk  editors,  city  editors,  manag- 
ing editors,  music  or  dramatic  or  book  critics,  or  edi- 
torial writers.  Many  prefer  to  do  outside  work  rather 
than  become  editors  or  critics — prefer  to  write  for  the 
news  columns,  to  mingle  with  the  outside  world  and  take 
part  in  its  stirring  events  rather  than  face  the  routine 
and  the  monotony  of  desk  work. 

They  are  especially  interested  in  taking  an  out  of 
town  commission  for  the  investigation  of  a  subject  of 
wide  importance — a  rebellion  in  Mexico,  an  uprising 
against  the  government  in  Cuba,  a  crisis  in  Canadian 
politics,  a  conflict  between  labor  and  capital  in  Colo- 
rado, a  socialistic  struggle  in  Schenectady. 

Such  assignments  call  for  thorough  investigation  at 
first  hand  on  the  spot,  call  for  an  acquaintance  with 
the  leaders  of  the  movement  that  frequently  becomes 
familiar  and  lasting,  call  for  practical  intimate  study 
of  the  convulsion  itself.  Information  thus  gained  may, 
after  its  publication  in  the  newspaper,  be  used  again  in 


8     THE  YOUNG  MAN  AND  JOURNALISM 

magazines,  in  books  of  record  or  in  fiction.  The  spe- 
cial writer,  for  instance,  who  spends  a  month  with  the 
striking  miners  in  the  Michigan  copper  district  comes 
to  know  much  about  life  and  labor  there,  about  the 
copper  industry,  mining  methods,  the  relation  of  the 
price  of  copper  to  miners'  wages,  the  smelting  of  ore, 
the  transportation  of  the  raw  and  the  finished  product 
and  a  thousand  other  details  of  the  business. 

The  newspapers  do  a  vast  amount  of  this  kind  of 
work.  Its  proper  exploitation  necessitates  intelligent 
treatment  by  the  writer.  His  information  forms  the 
basis  for  editorial  comment,  not  only  by  the  editors 
of  his  own  newspaper  but  by  those  of  other  sheets,  the 
periodical  press,  magazines  and  reviews ;  and  also  fre- 
quently it  leads  to  government  investigation  or  inter- 
ference or  regulation.  Two  or  three  years  of  this 
kind  of  work  give  a  large  fund  of  information  to  the 
writer.  It  is  of  immeasurable  service  to  him  as  long  as 
he  Hyes. 
.^/"Likewise  the  man  who  writes  for  the  news  columns  on 

)^A      national  politics  finds  himself  most  agreeably  employed. 

\  In  reality  he  is  a  specialist.     All  of  his   time  is  re- 

quired to  keep  apace  with  the  kaleidoscopic  changes  of 
American  political  life.  He  must  be  familiar  with  the 
important  politics  of  every  state  and  every  big  city, 
for  they  have  immediate  relation  to  the  politics  of  the 
nation.  To  that  end  he  makes  many  journeys.  His 
most  valuable  asset  is  personal  acquaintance  with  pub- 
lic men — the  men  who  make  politics  and  political  his- 
tory— and  the  more  intimate  the  acquaintance  the  more 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING          9 

interest  and  confidence  he  may  be  able  to  inspire.  The 
political  writer  seeks  to  meet  public  men  on  every  pos- 
sible occasion,  seeks  to  keep  in  touch  with  them  and 
with  the  politics  they  represent. 

If  a  conspicuous  political  leader  in  a  Western  state 
goes  East  it  will  be  a  part  of  his  routine  to  see  the 
political  writers.  With  them  he  goes  over  the  political 
situation  of  his  region,  tells  them  just  what  is  going  on 
and  what  is  contemplated.  Some  of  the  talk  is  con- 
fidential, and  the  writer  keeps  the  confidence.  In  turn 
the  writers  interest  him  in  what  they  know  of  the  poli- 
tics of  the  East  and  of  other  states.  In  this  way — 
so  briefly  indicated — the  political  writer  comes  to  com- 
prehend the  politics  of  the  nation.  He  must  read  all 
obtainable  political  literature  and  must  absorb  political 
information  from  any  source  at  hand. 

As  said  elsewhere  in  this  book,  you  cannot  learn 
politics  from  a  textbook;  you  must  absorb  the  politics 
of  the  day  by  a  study  of  the  events  of  the  day,  and 
great  mental  ability  is  required  to  keep  apace  with 
them.  Political  conclusions  made  to-day  are  upset 
by  the  events  of  to-morrow.  The  issues  of  one  elec- 
tion are  forgotten  in  the  burning  questions  of  the  next. 
The  newspapers  and  the  periodical  press  are  great 
sources  of  information,  but  greater  than  these  is  asso- 
ciation by  the  newspaper  writer  with  the  men  who 
are  making  politics. 

The  writer  of  national  politics  makes  frequent  trips 
to  Washington.  He  goes  to  the  national  political 
conventions  and  to  many  of  the  state  conventions. 


10         THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

He  is  called  on  to  write  sketches  of  important  candi- 
dates and  obituary  notices  of  statesmen.  His  opinions 
and  his  information  are  sought  by  editorial  writers 
and  by  public  men  themselves.  The  magazines  ask  him 
for  special  articles.  The  political  managers  pay  him 
for  campaign  literature.  The  greater  his  experience 
the  more  his  services  are  in  demand.  Not  infrequently 
he  is  called  into  party  councils  or  is  entrusted  with 
delicate  political  missions.  Candidates  and  leaders  seek 
his  advice  and  his  influence.  Presidents,  cabinet  officers, 
senators,  governors  and  mayors  tempt  him  to  quit 
newspaper  writing  to  become  their  secretaries — and 
these  places  are  usually  stepping  stones  to  higher  pub- 
lic life.v  Several  presidents  of  the  United  States  have 
chosen  newspaper  writers  to  be  their  private  secre- 
taries, half  of  the  governors  of  New  York  State,  in 
the  last  thirty  years,  and  nearly  every  mayor  of  New 
York  City  have  drawn  their  secretaries  from  the  ranks 
of  newspaper  writers. 

Moreover  writers  on  national  politics  frequently  are 
called  to  the  post  of  Washington  correspondent,  and 
here  too,  in  yet  greater  degree,  are  these  same  require- 
ments essential  to  success.  Washington  is  the  head- 
quarters of  national  politics.  Nearly  every  congress- 
man is  a  political  leader  in  his  home  district  as  well 
as  in  his  state,  and  his  activities  and  ambitions  are 
quickened  in  the  national  capital.  It  is  the  place  of 
all  places  to  study  political  movement.  The  corre- 
spondent enjoys  the  personal  acquaintance  of  presi- 
dents, cabinet  officers,  foreign  diplomats,  the  makers 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING        11 

of  party  policies,  the  framers  of  administrative  meas- 
ures, and  from  them  he  comes  to  know  what  they  are 
doing.  Many  state  secrets  are  told  to  him  in  con- 
fidence; to  betray  that  confidence  is  to  make  him  per- 
sona non  grata  and  to  destroy  the  possibility  of  getting 
additional  information.  The  supposition  that  the 
newspaper  writer  prints  everything  he  hears  is  silly^ 
Indeed,  public  men  have  come  to  know  that  a  safe 
way  to  keep  a  political  secret  is  to  tell  it  to  the  news- 
paper correspondents  with  the  injunction  that  it  is 
not  to  be  printed. 

In  addition  to  the  gathering  of  political  informa- 
tion the  Washington  correspondent  writes  of  the  do- 
ings of  Congress.  This  of  course  involves  study  of 
public  questions,  the  burning  questions  of  the  day. 
It  furnishes  a  volume  of  information  to  the  young  man 
who  is  to  continue  his  career  as  a  journalist  or  who 
may  turn  to  public  or  professional  life,  involving,  as 
it  does,  study  of  engineering  triumphs  like  the  Panama 
canal,  public  improvements  like  the  development  of 
Western  irrigation,  tariff  changes,  taxation,  national 
banking  systems,  the  problems  of  domestic  shipping 
and  foreign  commerce.  The  correspondent  comes  to 
know  about  diplomacy,  the  making  of  treaties,  the 
relation  of  labor  to  capital,  railway  management,  gov- 
ernment regulation  of  traffic — and  so  on  almost  with- 
out limit. 

The  correspondent  must  know  about  these  things  if 
he  is  to  write  intelligently  about  them.  He  must  be 
familiar  with  the  business  of  the  departments,  must 


12         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

understand  the  army  and  the  navy,  should  know  the 
whereabouts  of  every  regiment  and  every  ship  of  im- 
portance. He  should  know  the  name  and  the  politics 
and  the  post  of  every  American  diplomat,  should  know 
government  finances  —  indeed,  should  know  everything 
the  government  does.  These  things  constantly  are  re- 
curring in  new  and  unexpected  ways  and  they  must  be 
treated  as  important  news  of  the  day. 

Not  less  fascinating  to  the  young  reporter  is  his  daily 
contact  with  men  of  affairs  whom  he  meets  in  the 
course  of  his  news  collecting;  not  less  interesting  his 
intimacy  with  the  events  of  the  day  that  pulsate  and 
inspire.  His  work  becomes  so  varied.  It  all  is  so  new. 
His  experiences  are  so  interesting;  and  they  become 
the  more  so  as  he  gains  in  experience  and  is  asked  to 
do  higher  grade  work.  In  his  book  on  Newspaper 
Reporting  Mr.  John  Pendleton  of  London  says  : 

The  reporter  is  the  collector  of  news  for  the  circulation 
of  which  the  paper  really  exists.  On  his  report  of  the 
Premier's  speech  the  editor  bases  his  leading  article.  He 
records  the  splendor  of  the  Queen's  drawing  room,  and  the 
want  and  wretchedness  of  the  poor.  No  festival  is  complete 
without  him;  and  he  turns  up  at  every  calamity.  He 
chronicles  the  deeds  of  the  hero  and  the  crimes  of  the  mis- 
creant. He  tells  how  the  pulse  of  commerce  beats  in  every 
market  of  the  world.  Science  and  art  are  beholden  to  his 
pen;  and  even  religion  itself  has  to  thank  him  for  some  of 
its  spread.  He  has  become  a  necessity  to  newspaper  pro- 
duj2tion  and  no  inconsiderable  figure  in  national  life. 


The  reporter  is  not  sent  out  haphazard;  he  is  out 
for  a  purpose  and  that  purpose  is  the  collection  at 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING         13 

first  hand  of  facts  and  information  that  are  supposed 
to  interest  a  multitude  of  readers.  If  they  are  interest- 
ing to  those  who  read  them,  how  much  the  more  so  to 
the  young  man  who,  after  investigation  and  verification 
to  his  own  satisfaction,  puts  his  conclusions  on  paper! 

And  note,  if  you  will,  how  important  is  the  work. 
Since  the  first  use  of  printers'  type  the  great  events 
of  the  world,  the  events  that  have  moved  and  influenced 
mankind,  that  have  made  the  history  of  the  world, 
have  been  announced  first  of  all  in  the  newspapers. 
They  have  been  proclaimed  to  the  world  not  by  clergy- 
men from  the  pulpit,  or  lecturers  from  the  platform, 
or  orators  in  legislative  halls,  not  through  the  medium 
of  books  or  magazines  or  pamphlets,  or  by  the  writers 
of  editorial  articles,  or  by  critics — but  in  burning  type 
by  reporters. 

It  seems  but  yesterday,  that  midnight  hour,  when  a 
reporter  burst  into  the  working  room  of  a  morning 
newspaper  with  the  exclamation:  "He's  got  it — we  are 
going  to  have  the  electric  light  in  every  part  of  every 
house  and  over  every  desk  in  this  room."  He  had  hur- 
ried from  Edison's  first  big  test  of  the  division  of  the 
electric  current :  had  seen  a  hundred  electric  bulbs  glow- 
ing in  all  their  fascinating  brightness  by  electricity 
transmitted  over  wires.  And  the  people  marveled  at 
what  he  wrote  about  it. 

Within  the  span  of  my  own  newspaper  experience, 
reporters  have  given  first  information  to  the  world  of 
the  discovery  and  development  of  electric  lighting,  heat- 
ing, cooking  and  propulsion ;  of  Roentgen  rays ;  of  the 


14         THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

telephone;  of  the  phonograph;  of  the  automobile;  the 
player  piano ;  of  the  typesetting  machine  and  the  mul- 
tiple page  printing  press ;  the  shoe-making  machine ;  of 
breech-loading  guns,  machine-made  cartridges  and  dia- 
bolical explosives ;  of  the  airplane  and  the  zeppelin ;  of 
wireless  telegraphy;  of  steel  construction  in  big  build- 
ings; of  the  marvels  of  construction  in  gigantic  loco- 
motives and  steamships,  in  subways,  and  elevated  rail- 
roads, bridges,  and  aqueducts ;  of  bacillus  treatment  in 
medicine  and  the  wonders  of  abdominal  surgery;  and 
hundreds  of  other  developments  of  science.  We  have 
seen  the  declaration  of  a  dozen  wars  and  the  signing  of 
a  dozen  peace  treaties ;  the  announcement  of  the  death 
of  monarchs  and  the  birth  of  princes,  the  assassina- 
tion of  rulers  and  the  inauguration  of  their  successors. 

Some  reporter  has  announced  the  discovery  or  the 
fact  of  every  one  of  these  things.  He  has  been  com- 
pelled to  study  the  subject  enough  to  write  about  it 
understandingly,  and  that  study  has  brought  him  in 
contact  with  the  men  who  have  caused  or  invented  it. 

The  reporter  mingles  constantly  with  the  men  who 
control  the  affairs  of  the  world.  This  not  only  is  fas- 
cinating, but  it  gives  him  confidence  in  himself,  gives 
him  personal  address,  ease  of  manner  and  of  conversa- 
tion, manliness  of  presence.  It  sharpens  his  wits.  It 
takes  away  that  paralyzing  emotion  so  often  felt  by 
youth  when  in  the  presence  of  greatness.  Nothing  can 
be  more  stimulating  to  the  intellect  than  association 
with  intellectual  men. 

The  reporter  who  writes  of  an  important  event  usu- 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING        15 

ally  is  asked  to  continue  on  the  case  as  long  as  it  is  of 
public  interest.  The  man  who  wrote  the  narrative  of 
the  murder  of  White  by  Harry  Thaw  wrote  of  Thaw's 
publicities  for  a  long  time  afterward.  The  man  who 
reports  a  big  labor  strike  is  called  on  to  report  the 
next  strike.  He  gets  interested  in  the  subject,  makes 
it  a  study,  and  becomes  authority  on  the  relations  be- 
tween labor  and  capital.  In  this  way  as  time  goes 
on  the  reporter  comes  to  be  a  sort  of  specialist  in  sev- 
eral topics  and  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  is  of  great 
value  to  him  when  he  comes  to  editorial  writing,  or 
magazine  work,  or  authorship  of  any  kind,  or  if  he  goes 
into  the  law  or  into  the  public  service  or  any  other 
business.  There  is  not  any  other  employment  prob- 
ably in  which  a  young  man  may  gather  so  extensive 
a  general  contemporaneous  knowledge  as  in  newspaper 
reporting  in  a  big  city. 

The  speakers  at  a  public  banquet  may  drone  on  for 
an  hour  or  so  without  saying  anything  or  giving  ut- 
terance to  a  sentence  worth  reporting  and  then  some- 
thing of  supreme  importance  may  be  said.  The  good 
reporter  recognizes  its  worth  instantly;  the  poor  one 
does  not. 

Colonel  William  Rockhill  Nelson,  who  won  fame  as 
editor  of  the  Kansas  City  Star,  had  this  to  say  in  an 
address  to  the  students  of  a  School  of  Journalism: 

There  is  just  one  point  I  wish  to  emphasize  to  the  young 
men  who  are  expecting  to  engage  in  newspaper  work.  That 
is,  that  the  reporter  is  the  essential  man  on  the  newspaper. 
He  is  the  big  toad  in  the  puddle. 


16         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

Young  fellows  looking  forward  to  a  newspaper  career 
often  have  in  mind  an  editorship  of  some  sort.  They  want 
to  guide  and  instruct  public  opinion.  The  trouble  is  that 
the  public  doesn't  yearn  to  have  its  opinion  guided  and 
instructed.  It  wants  to  get  the  news  and  be  entertained. 

Consider  who  are  making  the  real  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines to-day.  Not  the  grave  and  learned  publicist  who  is 
giving  advice  on  the  state  of  the  Nation  from  the  seclusion 
of  some  hole  in  the  wall;  not  the  recluse  with  a  bunch  of 
academic  theories. 

It  is  the  reporter  with  the  nose  for  news.  He  is  the  only 
fellow  who  has  any  business  around  newspapers  or  maga- 
zines. In  general  his  job  is  not  to  produce  literature,  but 
to  do  reporting. 

Often  a  good  pair  of  legs  makes  a  good  reporter.  The 
newspaper  man  must  always  be  on  the  job,  always  hustling, 
always  ready  to  go  to  any  inconvenience  or  suffer  any 
fatigue  to  get  the  news.  And  above  all,  so  far  as  routine 
reporting  goes,  he  must  be  honest  and  accurate. 

Charles  Dickens,  who  was  a  reporter  before  he  be- 
came a  writer  of  novels,  says  of  some  of  his  experiences : 

I  have  often  transcribed  for  the  printer,  from  shorthand 
notes,  important  public  speeches  in  which  the  strictest  accu- 
racy was  required,  and  a  mistake  in  which  would  have  been 
to  a  young  man  severely  compromising,  writing  on  the 
palm  of  my  hand,  by  the  light  of  a  dark  lantern  in  a  post 
chaise  and  four,  galloping  through  a  wild  country  and 
through  the  dead  of  the  night,  at  the  then  surprising  rate  of 
fifteen  miles  an  hour. 

The  very  last  time  I  was  at  Exeter,  I  strolled  into  the 
castle  yard  there  to  identify,  for  the  amusement  of  a  friend, 
the  spot  on  which  we  "took"  as  we  used  to  call  it,  an 
election  speech  of  Lord  John  Russell  at  the  Devon  contest, 
in  the  midst  of  a  lively  fight  maintained  by  all  the  vagabonds 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING        17 

in  that  division  of  the  country  and  under  such  a  pelting 
rain  that  I  remember  two  good-natured  colleagues,  who 
chanced  to  be  at  leisure,  held  a  pocket  handkerchief  over 
my  notebook  after  the  fashion  of  a  State  canopy  in  an 
ecclesiastical  procession. 

I  have  worn  my  knees  by  writing  on  them  on  the  old 
back  row  of  the  old  House  of  Commons;  and  I  have  worn 
my  feet  by  standing  to  write  in  a  preposterous  pen  in  the 
old  House  of  Lords,  where  we  used  to  be  huddled  together 
like  so  many  sheep — kept  in  waiting,  say,  until  the  Wool- 
sack might  want  restuffing. 

Returning  home  from  political  meetings  in  the  country 
to  the  waiting  press  in  London,  I  do  believe  I  hdve  been 
upset  in  almost  every  description  of  vehicle  known  in  this 
country.  I  have  been  in  my  time  belated  in  miry  by-roads, 
toward  the  small  hours,  forty  or  fifty  miles  from  London, 
in  a  wheel-less  carriage,  with  exhausted  horses  and  drunken 
post  boys,  and  have  got  back  in  time  for  publication,  to  be 
received  with  never-forgotten  compliments  by  the  late  Mr. 
Black,  coming  in  the  broadest  Scotch  from  the  broadest  of 
hearts  I  ever  knew. 

Of  the  reporter's  familiarity  with  limitless  phases  of 
life  it  has  been  said: 

The  reporter  of  to-day  has  to  be  courageous,  sharp  as  a 
hawk,  mentally  untiring,  physically  enduring.  He  comes 
in  contact  with  everybody  from  monarchs  to  beggars,  from 
noblemen  to  nobodies.  He  sees  the  tragedy  and  the  comedy 
of  human  life,  its  cynicism  and  toadyism,  its  patient  strug- 
gling and  feverish  ambition,  its  sham  and  subterfuge,  its 
lavish  wealth  and  deepest  poverty,  its  good  deeds  and  most 
hideous  crime. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  says  of  writers  that  "they  meet 
philosophers,  scientific  men,  soldiers,  artists,  profes- 


18         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

sional  men,  politicians  of  all  sorts,  the  rich,  and  the 

great." 

As  illustrating  the  high  place  a  man  may  make  for 
himself  while  writing  for  the  news  department  of  a 
newspaper,  let  us  quote  from  an  editorial  article  in  the 
Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle: 

Of  Saxon  stock  though  of  Irish  birth,  a  Royal  scholarship 
graduate  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  William  Crooke,  for 
forty  years  of  the  New  York  Sun's  staff  as  a  news  writer 
and  nearly  all  that  period  in  charge  of  the  Sun's  Brooklyn 
news,  came  to  be  known  to  every  police  and  fire  department 
official,  to  most  of  the  clergymen  and  all  the  big  politicians 
of  either  party  in  old  Brooklyn  as  "Billy  Crooke";  always 
respectfully  and  often  affectionately  regarded,  trusted  by 
every  one  because  he  never  betrayed  a  confidence  and  never 
misrepresented  any  communication  or  interview. 

Mr.  Crooke,  qualified  by  high  education  for  the  writing 
that  analyzes  and  illuminates  the  world's  happenings,  and 
a  keen  incisive  stylist  in  his  reporting  work,  was  satisfied 
to  be  a  reporter.  He  felt  to  the  full  the  dignity  of  what  he 
was  doing;  he  realized  that  it  is  news  that  makes  a  news- 
paper, not  features  and  not  comment.  He  was  a  newspaper- 
maker  in  the  best  sense.  Kindliness,  dry  humor,  accurate 
observation,  integrity,  and  dignity  made  "Billy"  what  he 
'was. 


In  most  of  the  college  publications  one  may  find 
under  the  heading  of  Alumni  Notes,  an  item  such  as 
this: 

'  '18,  John  F.  Jenkins  has  accepted  a  position  on  the 
editorial  staff  of  the  New  York  Star." 

This  means  that  Jenkins  has  got  a  job  as  a  reporter. 
But  Jenkins  did  not  have  the  easy  time  getting  it  that 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING        19 

the  paragraph  in  the  college  paper  would  lead  one  to 
suppose.  Nor  did  he  "accept"  the  post:  the  Star  ac- 
cepted him.  Before  Jenkins  landed  on  the  Star  he 
visited  five  newspaper  offices,  reached  the  assistant  city 
editor  of  two,  the  city  editor  of  one.  He  did  not  get 
beyond  the  office  boy  guarding  the  portals  of  the  others. 

Jenkins  left  four  of  the  offices  with  a  definite  feel- 
ing that  New  York  was  none  too  cordial  to  a  budding 
newspaper  man.  But  he  failed  to  consider,  because  he 
did  not  know,  that  two  or  three  young  men  visit  the 
city  room  of  a  metropolitan  newspaper  every  day  on 
an  errand  similar  to  his.  And  he  failed  to  realize, 
because  he  did  not  know,  that  in  normal  times  a  con- 
servative newspaper  hires  about  one  new  reporter  a 
month. 

The  city  editor  of  the  Star  happened  to  need  a  man 
when  Jenkins  called.  Jenkins  was  a  college  man;  that 
was  in  his  favor.  His  manner  of  approach  was  pleas- 
ing to  the  man  who  was  thinking  of  hiring  him.  If  the 
impression  was  good  to  the  city  editor  it  would  also  be 
good  to  the  men  to  whom  Jenkins  might  be  sent  as  a 
reporter.  His  conversation  was  direct  and  to  the 
point.  He  didn't  make  extravagant  talk  about  his 
ability;  he  was  frank  in  saying  that  he  didn't  know 
anything  about  the  newspaper  business,  but  wanted 
to  learn  and  was  willing  to  work  hard  to  make  good. 
He  would  be  glad  to  take  twenty  dollars  a  week  at  the 
start  and  asked  only  for  a  trial. 

"All  right,  report  to-morrow  at  one  o'clock,"  said 
the  city  editor  and  Jenkins  left  the  office  in  a  daze 


20         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

with  a  job.  He  had  been  trying  for  three  days  to  get 
one  and  the  interview  that  landed  it  had  consumed  not 
more  than  three  minutes. 

Jenkins  got  the  job  because  he  was  clean,  intelligent 
and  looked  like  good  material.  He  had  not  made  the 
mistake  of  thinking  that  impertinent  aggressiveness 
would  impress  the  man  who  was  to  hire  him.  He  had 
not  made  the  mistake  of  failing  to  remove  his  hat  when 
he  sat  down  beside  the  city  desk  to  make  his  appeal. 
Several  men  had  made  that  mistake  with  the  city  editor 
of  the  Star.  A  man  who  did  not  know  enough  to  re- 
move his  hat  even  in  an  office,  did  not  have  manners 
enough  to  approach  many  of  the  men  to  whom  the  Star 
would  send  him.  Jenkins  did  not  waste  the  time  of 
the  city  editor  on  nonessentials,  and  it  was  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  he  would  be  as  businesslike  with  those  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact  later  as  a  reporter.  Jenkins 
also  had  personality.  He  acted  as  though  he  meant 
business  and  realized  that  newspaper  work  was  pleasant 
but  not  play.  He  had  no  letters  of  recommendation 
and  the  city  editor  didn't  ask  for  any.  Letters  are 
easy  to  get  and  as  a  rule  do  not  count  for  much. 
Personality,  such  as  Jenkins's,  counts  a  lot. 

The  reporter  must  be  prepared  to  meet  the  active 
men  of  the  world :  the  men  who  are  doing  the  construc- 
tive work  of  the  world.  He  must  have  presence  and 
address  to  attract  their  attention.  Usually  he  is  a 
stranger  to  them.  His  presence  is  unwelcome  to  them. 
Experience  has  attested  that  the  college  boy  is  better 
fitted  for  this  task  than  any  other  kind  of  beginner. 


REPORTERS   AND   REPORTING  21 

He  is  familiar  with  the  ways  of  society  and  has  some 
notion  of  the  public  questions  of  the  day  and  the  vital 
problems  of  life.  The  green  young  man  of  uncouth 
appearance,  of  clumsy  presence,  of  faltering,  stam- 
mering speech  makes  a  mighty  poor  reporter. 

Many  newspaper  office  boys  become  good  reporters. 
In  constant  contact  with  the  editorial  force  they  ab- 
sorb knowledge  of  the  business.  Noneducated  or  partly 
educated  youths  may  and  do  become  excellent  report- 
ers of  routine  news,  but  they  rarely  get  beyond  the 
imitative  stage.  In  the  race  for  higher  journalistic 
honors  the  college  boys  easily  outstrip  them. 

A  welcome  addition  to  the  staff  is  the  man  who  comes 
from  a  country  newspaper.  Many  of  the  ablest  of 
American  journalists  began  their  careers  in  rural 
offices.  The  country  boy  usually  knows  something  of 
the  technical  side  of  the  business.  Likely  enough  he 
has  learned  to  set  type  or  run  a  typesetting  machine, 
has  lent  a  hand  in  the  mailing  room  or  the  delivery 
department,  has  mastered  many  details  that,  though 
not  essential,  have  given  a  comprehensive  notion  of  how 
newspapers  are  made. 

Nor  should  the  young  man  from  the  country,  am- 
bitious for  city  experience,  stay  away  from  the  city 
through  fear  of  competition  or  through  timidity.  Do 
not  be  afraid.  The  newspaper  men  of  the  city  are 
not  smarter  than  those  in  the  country.  I  recall  the 
youngster  from  a  small  up-state  daily  who  with  fear 
and  trembling  accepted  a  chance  to  work  a  few  days 
on  trial,  in  a  big  city  office,  as  reporter.  He  went 


22         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

smashing  around  town  for  routine  news  and  found  the 
work  not  difficult.  In  a  week  confidence  had  conquered 
timidity.  He  observed  the  other  reporters  and  workers 
and  said  to  himself,  "I  can  compete  with  these  men" — 
and  he  did  compete  with  them  to  his  gratifying  success. 

Fascinating  as  the  reporter's  life  may  be,  it  never- 
theless has  its  unpleasant  moments,  its  many  hardships. 
The  hours  of  work  are  irregular  and  unlimited.  Men 
on  the  big  metropolitan  morning  newspapers  report  for 
duty  at  noon,  one  or  two  o'clock ;  those  of  the  evening 
staffs  at  seven  or  eight,  A.M.;  and  all  are  supposed 
to  work  as  long  as  their  services  are  required — not  in- 
frequently for  fifteen  hours.  Newspaper-making  is  a 
continuous  performance,  especially  for  reporters.  Fre- 
quently those  employed  in  it  suffer  great  discomforts 
through  physical  fatigue,  lack  of  food  and  sleep,  and 
exposure  to  weather  conditions. 

One  of  the  court  reporters  of  a  morning  newspaper 
in  New  York  was  finishing  his  work  in  the  late  evening. 
He  had  been  on  duty  some  ten  hours  and  his  work 
had  been  hard.  Suddenly  came  the  big  explosion  of  the 
great  munitions  plant  at  Morgan,  New  Jersey,  and 
the  weary  young  writer  was  told  to  hustle  out  there. 
At  Perth  Amboy  he  encountered  the  military  guard 
thrown  out  to  prevent  approach  to  the  burning  build- 
ings. In  his  attempts  to  get  along  he  was  arrested 
six  times  and  detained.  He  phoned  his  facts  to  the 
office  and  was  told  to  stay  on.  He  could  find  no  place 
to  sleep — couldn't  have  slept  if  he  had — could  hardly 
find  a  place  to  sit  down  even,  could  get  nothing  to  eat 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING        23 

or  drink.  Explosion  after  explosion  followed  hour 
after  hour.  And  when  at  length  he  reached  the  office 
he  was  too  exhausted  to  write  a  word.  So  they  sent 
him  to  bed  for  six  hours  and  then  he  wrote  his  report. 

Very  many  other  men  had  a  similar  experience  that 
day  and  night.  They  were  in  constant  danger  of  their 
lives,  badly  fed  and  without  rest.  They  were  driven 
from  place  to  place  by  the  military  guard,  and  most 
of  them  were  arrested  over  and  over  again.  It  was 
one  of  the  most  trying  disasters  to  report  of  which 
we  have  record. 

Several  reporters  nearly  lost  their  lives  while  crossing 
Great  South  Bay  in  a  tempest  to  the  scene  of  a  ship- 
wreck on  the  beach.  They  capsized  in  a  sail  boat  and 
the  life-saving  guard  barely  gave  rescue. 

Men  sent  to  the  Johnstown  flood  found  the  town 
wrecked,  scantily  provisioned,  and  with  no  sleeping 
accommodations.  They  were  compelled  to  stay  there 
a  week  under  most  distressing  conditions  while  the 
search  for  the  dead  continued. 

The  reporting  of  the  great  national  political  con- 
ventions requires  unceasing  effort  for  a  week  or  more, 
the  utmost  vigil  through  night  and  day.  Important 
committees  are  reaching  decisions,  new  pacts  and  com- 
binations are  being  formed,  and  the  entire  situation  may 
be  changing  from  hour  to  hour.  There  is  no  sleep  for 
the  unfortunate  correspondent ;  he  must  be  awake  to 
the  instant.  The  reporting  of  what  is  done  in  the 
public  sessions  of  the  convention  is  the  least  of  his 
labors. 


24         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

When  a  man  of  importance  falls  mortally  ill  a  re- 
porter is  detailed  to  watch  him — to  obtain  the  earliest 
announcement  of  his  death.  The  vigil  is  constant.  In 
scores  of  instances  reporters  have  sat  on  the  man's 
doorstep  waiting  for  him  to  die.  This  sort  of  work  in- 
volves all  the  monotony  of  sentry  duty.  It  is  disagree- 
able in  the  extreme. 

The  newspaper  boys  are  asked  to  do  many  unpleasant 
things.  They  are  compelled  to  invade  private  homes 
and  to  ask  agonized  parents  why  a  son  or  a  daughter 
has  committed  suicide  or  has  done  a  disgraceful  act ; 
to  ask  a  husband  whether  it  is  true  that  his  wife  has 
run  away  with  a  neighbor,  or  ask  a  wife  whether  her 
husband  is  a  fugitive  from  justice.  The  assignments 
that  take  a  writer  into  a  family  that  has  been  disgraced 
by  one  of  its  members  are  the  most  unpleasant,  prob- 
ably, of  any  that  fall  to  him. 

Indeed  there  is  little  of  joyousness  in  any  search  for 
information  that  some  one  wishes  to  conceal.  Yet 
every  editor  knows  that  in  very  many  important  cases 
to  be  chronicled  some  one  is  interested  in  concealing  the 
real  facts.  The  people  who  want  their  affairs  screened 
from  public  gaze  constitute  a  multitude.  Diplomats 
are  reticent.  Government  officers  are  evasive.  Political 
plans  are  kept  in  the  shadow,  for  publicity  has  ruined 
many  a  political  plot.  Bank  officials  seek  to  conceal 
defalcations.  Insurance  companies  try  to  hush  great 
losses.  Society  leaders  wish  to  minimize  society  scan- 
dals. Usually  in  these  cases  the  inquirer  is  lied  to 
deliberately  and  calmly,  or  the  door  is  slammed  in  his 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING        25 

face,  or  the  person  sought  refuses  to  be  seen,  or  the 
reporter  is  sent  on  a  fool's  errand  elsewhere — anything 
to  be  rid  of  him.  Some  one  has  said  that  the  news- 
paper man  is  asked  to  lie  about  people  almost  as  often 
as  he  is  asked  to  tell  the  truth. 

To  obtain  exact  truth  always  has  been  surrounded- 
by  difficulties.  Almost  every  historian  complains  of 
the  task  of  establishing  the  truth  of  history.  He  finds 
the  literature  of  the  time  at  variance  with  the  facts; 
public  documents  and  records  absolutely  contradict- 
ing one  another;  while  the  recollections  and  reminis- 
cences of  the  oldest  inhabitants  are  fanciful  dreams.  It 
was  Talleyrand  who  said  of  a  treaty  that  if  it  con- 
tained no  ambiguities  some  should  be  inserted. 

The  young  newspaper  writer  finds  his  task  of  tell- 
ing the  truth  quite  as  difficult,  not  only  because  so 
many  persons  seek  to  conceal  the  truth  but  also  from 
the  well-known  fact — recognized  and  constantly  com- 
mented on  in  our  courts  of  law — that  two  persons 
rarely  see  or  hear  or  comprehend  alike.  Honest  wit- 
nesses give  different  versions. 

But  the  newspaper  manager  expects  the  reporter  to 
get  the  exact  facts,  and  frequently  the  unfortunate 
writer  finds  himself  compelled  to  resort  to  trickery 
and  all  kinds  of  subterfuge  to  do  so.  If  he  fails  to  get 
the  facts  his  advancement  in  the  office  is  checked.  In- 
quiry is  made  into  the  cause  of  his  failure  and  if  good 
reason  for  it  appears  it  may  be  forgotten.  If  it  is 
through  carelessness  or2  indolence  he  is  discharged, 
and  the  reason  for  dropping  him  is  known  within 


26         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

twenty- four  hours  in  every  other  newspaper  office  in  the 
city.  It  is  all  very  unpleasant. 

If  the  new  reporter  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  begin 
his  career  on  a  dishonest  or  an  extremely  sensational 
sheet  he  may  suffer  an  experience  yet  more  disagree- 
able, for  he  may  be  asked  to  distort  the  truth  deliber- 
ately. Fortunately  this  is  not  a  frequent  request: 
Very  few  newspapers  seek  to  print  falsehoods  or  ask 
their  men  to  pen  untruths.  Much  less  of  that  sort  of 
thing  prevails  than  disgraced  the  press  of  twenty-five 
years  ago ;  yet  a  few  editors  remain  who  seem  to  think 
that  exaggeration  and  falsification  attract  more  readers 
than  does  the  truth,  and  they  demand  that  all  news  re- 
ports be  colored  with  spectacular  embellishment.  This 
is  unpleasant  as  well  as  unprofessional.  It  is  demoraliz- 
ing to  a  young  writer.  It  is  disastrous  to  his  reputa- 
tion for  serious,  trustworthy  work.  Yet  more  serious 
as  well  as  more  repulsive  is  the  necessity  occasionally 
imposed  by  dishonest  editors  on  the  reporter  of  black- 
ening a  man's  reputation  or  exalting  the  deeds  of  a 
scoundrel.  But  this  does  not  happen  often. 

The  confusion  and  noise  of  the  office  often  annoy 
the  young  writer  and  lessen  his  ability  to  do  himself  jus- 
tice. The  news  is  usually  written  and  handled  in  one 
large  room.  Twenty  or  thirty  reporters,  subeditors 
and  office  boys  are  doing  rush  work.  A  noisy  reporter 
blows  in,  as  though  carried  on  a  whirlwind,  talks  all 
the  time,  shouts  for  an  office  boy,  calls  for  reference 
books  and  newspaper  files  and  drinking  water  all  in  one 
breath,  and  keeps  it  going.  Hurry-up  telephone  bells 


REPORTERS  AND  REPORTING         27 

are  jingling  and  men  are  bawling  through  the  trans- 
mitters. Typewriters  resound  their  staccato  clicking. 
Call  bells  are  striking  and  reporters  are  tapping  their 
desk  tops  for  office  boys,  and  the  boys  are  tumbling 
over  one  another  in  response,  and  are  darting  from 
desk  to  desk  with  copy.  Persons  are  coming  and  going 
all  the  time,  talking  and  laughing  and  shuffling.  The 
old  hands  are  used  to  it ;  but  the  young  man  accustomed 
to  the  silence  of  the  study  room  sometimes  develops 
symptoms  of  insanity. 

serious  consideration,  also,  is  the  fact  that  morn- 
ing newspaper  work  sadly  interferes  with  social  and 
home  life  and  with  a  host  of  amusements  and  enter- 
tainments and  pleasures  enjoyed  by  day  workers.  In 
the  big  cities  members  of  news  staffs  seldom  dine  at 
home.  The  news  writers  go  on  duty  early  in  the  after- 
noon if  not  before ;  the  news  editorial  staff  at  six  o'clock 
or  thereabouts,  all  to  remain  until  well  after  midnight. 
Dinner  parties,  theater  parties,  dancing  parties — all 
evening  social  life  may  be  enjoyed  on  the  one  day  only, 
of  the  seven,  known  as  the  day  off.  The  newspaper  man 
toils  while  others  play — and  his  night's  work  ends 
somewhat  dismally  by  his  dragging  home  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  maybe  through  storm  or  sleet  or  tem- 
pest, to  a  cold,  cheerless,  silent,  dark  home — a  home  un- 
attractive under  these  conditions  despite  every  effort 
to  make  it  otherwise. 

To  the  hard-working  man  of  ordinary  occupation 
there  comes  a  certain  sense  of  enjoyment  in  the  relaxa- 
tion following  business  effort.  He  does  not  want  to  go 


28          THE   YOUNG    MAN    AND    JOURNALISM 

immediately  and  stealthily  to  bed.  The  morning-news- 
paper man  is  compelled  to  do  so.  The  day  worker  en- 
joys his  homecoming,  his  leisurely  evening  repast,  the 
diversions  of  the  few  hours  preceding  sleep.  It  is  the 
bright  spot  in  the  day.  The  newspaper  man  rolls  off 
the  editorial  bench  into  bed. 

This  demoralization  of  home  and  social  life  con- 
stitutes a  very  great  objection  to  entering  the  news- 
paper business.  It  affects  nine-tenths  of  the  morning- 
newspaper  staff.  If  the  young  journalist  chances  to 
marry  it  imposes  hardships  on  the  young  wife.  Usually 
she  begins  her  married  life  by  loyally  and  cheerfully 
trying  to  sit  up  until  long  after  midnight  to  greet 
him  on  his  return — but  not  for  long.  The  coming  of 
children  and  the  establishing  of  a  home  compel  normal 
rest  and  other  attentions,  and  she  reluctantly  ceases 
her  long  waiting  vigil.  Instead  of  greeting  him  with 
a  daintily  prepared  bit  of  warm  food  she  now  puts  out 
a  plate  of  cold  stuff  left  over  from  the  day  before, 
which  he  mechanically  masticates  or  not  as  his  mood 
suggests;  and  a  little  later  on  it  is  decided  that  he 
might  stop  at  a  night  restaurant  for  a  bite,  if  he  is 
hungry.  As  she  cannot  go  out  in  the  evening  with  him 
she  misses  many  of  the  social  pleasures  to  which  pre- 
sumedly she  had  been  accustomed  and  which  she  had 
expected  in  her  new  life.  But  most  of  all  she  misses 
his  presence  and  his  attentions. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  COLLECTION  OF  NEWS  AND  THE  PREP- 
ARATION OF  COPY  FOR  THE  READER 

THE  young  man  just  beginning  a  newspaper  career 
gets  a  violent  shock  almost  immediately.  He  discovers 
that  some  one  is  revising  his  articles,  changing  his 
words,  shortening  his  sentences,  omitting  entire  para- 
graphs. It  gives  him  much  anxiety. 

All  newspaper  copy  is  revised.  Very  little  news 
or  general  matter  is  printed  as  written  originally.  It 
undergoes  "editing"  by  copy  readers,  of  whom  there 
are  twelve  to  twenty  in  the  big  city  offices.  The  edito- 
rial articles  are  revised  by  the  editor  in  chief.  Other 
copy  for  the  editorial  page — letters  to  the  editor,  com- 
munications, verse,  comments  from  other  newspapers, 
and  the  like — is  prepared  by  his  assistants.  "Editing" 
copy  means  preparing  it  for  the  compositor,  putting 
it  in  the  exact  language  in  which  it  is  to  be  printed. 

Systematic,  careful  revision  of  all  copy  is  necessary 
not  alone  to  correct  error  of  fact,  of  judgment,  of 
good  taste,  but  also  to  regulate  the  volume  of  matter. 
The  notion  that  newspapers  print  articles  "just  to  fill 
up"  is  as  absurd  as  the  intimation  that  they  "print  any- 
thing they  can  get."  Every  newspaper  of  any  account 

29 


30         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

receives,  daily,  double  to  four  times  as  much  news  matter 
as  can  be  crowded  into  its  columns.  The  news  value  of 
each  article  or  paragraph  must  have  quick,  alert  con- 
sideration. If  the  reporter  has  written  half  a  column 
about  an  event  that  is  worth  twenty  lines  only  of  news- 
paper space  the  report  must  be  reduced  to  twenty 
lines.  If  an  unusual  rush  of  news  or  advertising  com- 
pels the  order  to  "cut  everything  rigidly"  it  is  reduced 
to  ten  lines.  Just  what  to  print  and  what  to  omit  are 
burning  questions  and  the  quality  of  judgment  exer- 
cised in  the  decision  largely  measures  the  copy  reader's 
ability. 

The  men  who  revise  news  copy  for  morning  editions 
get  to  work  at  about  six  o'clock.  For  convenience  they 
group  around  large  tables,  those  handling  telegraph 
matter  at  one  desk,  the  readers  of  city  copy  at  an- 
other, the  sporting  department  workers  at  a  third,  while 
at  other  desks  are  the  cable  editors,  the  financial  and 
commercial  and  the  real  estate  men.  It  is  of  advantage 
to  have  as  many  as  possible  of  these  desks  in  one  room. 

How  to  handle  the  great  volume  of  matter  that  pours 
into  the  office  gives  the  managing  editor  much  concern. 
It  must  be  done  with  a  minimum  of  confusion,  for  con- 
fusion surely  creates  error  and  disarranges  system. 
The  edition  must  be  put  to  press  on  the  instant  and 
always  the  news  pages  are  closed  at  the  last  moment, 
under  great  stress,  with  all  hands  in  a  rush.  The  work 
is  well  systemized,  but  no  system  has  yet  been  invented 
that  can  anticipate  or  provide  for  the  unexpected  event 
that  so  frequently  upsets  newspaper  offices. 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS      31 

In  normal  times  the  managing  editor  directs  how 
the  articles  of  considerable  importance  are  to  be  treated 
and  likewise  the  city  editor  instructs  his  men  how  and 
to  what  length  they  are  to  write  their  articles.  The 
size  and  the  quality  of  the  edition  may  be  planned  and 
carried  to  conclusion  with  comparative  comfort  if  noth- 
ing unforeseen  happens.  But  not  infrequently  big  news 
breaks  out  unexpectedly  that  upsets  all  calculations 
and  compels  a  change  of  all  plans.  It  is  the  unexpected 
that  drives  the  news  editors  frantic  and  adds  to  their 
labors  and  creates  confusion  and  chaos  in  spite  of  every- 
thing. Let  us  recall  the  Roosevelt  attempted  assassina- 
tion, in  illustration. 

Things  were  proceeding  peacefully  in  the  newspaper 
office  on  that  evening  in  October,  1912,  when,  about  nine 
o'clock,  a  telegraph  flash  came  from  Milwaukee :  "Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  has  been  shot  and  killed  by  a  crazy 
man." 

Here  was  the  biggest  news  for  many  a  day.  Roose- 
velt was  perhaps  the  nation's  most  spectacular  citizen. 
He  had  been  our  President.  He  was  known  throughout 
the  world.  He  was  running  for  the  presidency  as  an 
independent  candidate  against  Wilson  and  Taft.  He 
had  split  the  Republican  party.  The  election  was  only 
a  few  days  away.  The  political  consequences  of  his 
death  were  stupendous. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  describe  what  followed  in 
the  newspaper  work  room.  The  managing  editor  began 
dictating  telegraph  orders: 

To  the  Milwaukee  correspondent  he  said :  "Wire  with 


32         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

all  haste  every  word  you  can  get  about  Roosevelt's 
visit,  what  he  has  said  and  done  since  his  arrival,  every 
possible  detail  of  the  shooting,  full  description  and  his- 
tory of  the  assassin,  where  he  has  lived,  so  we  can  run 
him  down.  Send  every  word  he  utters.  Hire  a  dozen 
men  to  help.  You  can't  wire  too  much." 

To  the  Washington  correspondent:  "Wire  1500 
words  Roosevelt's  chief  acts  as  President,  1000  on  his 
personal  popularity  and  social  life.  Interview  every- 
body effect  of  his  death  on  the  election,  get  White  House 
comment,  wire  1000  general  effects  of  the  news.  You 
can't  send  too  much." 

To  the  Chicago  correspondent:  "Hurry  to  Milwau- 
kee. Take  two  or  three  men  with  you.  Find  our  man  in 
the  Sentinel  office.  Hire  a  special  train  if  necessary. 
Hire  some  one  to  get  all  he  can  out  of  the  Chicago  news- 
paper offices." 

Having  wired  a  dozen  or  so  such  telegrams  to  other 
parts  of  the  country  the  managing  editor  summoned 
the  city  editor  and  said  to  him:  "Get  your  entire  staff 
here,  the  men  who  are  off  to-day  and  all  the  emergency 
men.  Put  on  three  or  four  more  copy  readers.  Find 
out  where  Mrs.  Roosevelt  is  and  have  a  man  stay  right 
by  her :  also  the  rest  of  the  Colonel's  family.  Have  four 
or  five  columns  of  his  obituary  prepared.  Have  inter- 
views with  a  lot  of  prominent  New  York  men  and  poli- 
ticians of  both  parties.  Have  a  column  written  on  the 
effect  on  the  political  campaign  and  also  a  column  of 
Roosevelt's  reasons  for  running  as  an  independent  can- 
didate. Send  to  the  hotels  and  theaters.  Don't  forget 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS   33 

a  big  portrait  of  Roosevelt — better  have  pictures  of  the 
entire  Roosevelt  family  and  the  Oyster  Bay  home.  Keep 
everybody  here  until  three  o'clock." 

To  the  night  editor  he  said:  "The  editorial  page  is 
full  of  campaign  stuff.  Have  some  one  go  through 
every  line  of  it  and  cut  out  everything  intended  to  in- 
fluence a  voter  against  Roosevelt — everything  that 
could  be  thought  unseemly.  You  will  have  to  leave  out 
two  or  three  of  the  articles  and  some  of  the  letters  to 
the  editor.  Find  another  editorial  or  two  that  will  do, 
on  the  standing  galleys.  Get  the  full  force  into  the  com- 
posing room.  Tell  the  stereotype  men  there  will  be  no 
end  of  editions  all  night  long — they  will  want  full  force. 
Tell  the  press  room  men  too;  the  circulation  will  be 
double.  Be  sure  to  look  out  for  any  slur  on  Roosevelt. 
You  must  get  the  mail  edition  off  on  time.  We  can't 
afford  to  miss  a  mail  to-night." 

The  foregoing  indicates  a  part — and  only  a  small 
part — of  the  preparations  made  for  an  edition  announc- 
ing Colonel  Roosevelt's  death  by  assassination.  Within 
fifteen  minutes  enough  matter  had  been  ordered  to  fill 
five  or  six  newspaper  pages.  The  entire  news  staff 
jumped  into  the  work. 

The  machinery  for  that  edition  began  to  move 
promptly  in  the  lines  indicated.  But  in  half  an  hour 
came  this  wire  from  Milwaukee:  "Colonel  Roosevelt  is 
not  dead  but  has  been  shot  near  the  heart.  Surgeons 
are  making  examination."  And  through  some  unex- 
plained cause  not  another  word  came  from  Milwaukee 
for  an  hour  and  a  half. 


34         .THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

With  this  second  announcement  it  was  necessary  to 
change  the  plan  of  the  edition  to  conform  to  the  situa- 
tion that  the  Colonel  was  not  dead  but  possibly  was 
mortally  wounded.  In  the  hour  and  a  half  of  suspense 
thousands  of  words  came  pouring  in  to  the  copy  readers 
all  written  under  belief  that  the  attack  had  resulted  in 
death  and  all  had  to  be  edited  to  fit  the  new  situation. 

Then  came  word  that  the  Colonel  had  not  been  seri- 
ously hurt — slightly  wounded  only — and  that  he  had 
started  for  Chicago.  It  was  now  nearly  midnight  and  a 
complete  overhauling  of  the  paper  was  necessary.  A  new 
set  of  instructions  had  to  be  sent  to  everybody.  Every- 
thing had  to  be  reedited.  What  was  practically  a  new 
edition  must  be  made  with  very  little  time  in  which  to 
make  it.  As  it  was,  the  newspapers  printed  from  three 
to  five  pages  of  matter  about  the  attempted  assassina- 
tion, but  they  killed  many  columns  relating  to  the 
Colonel's  life,  the  effect  of  the  supposed  death  on  the 
campaign,  appreciations  by  public  men,  and  so  forth. 
The  writers  and  copy  readers  were  reminded  that  the 
Colonel  was  still  a  candidate,  and  that  a  new  issue  had 
been  injected  into  the  campaign,  that  of  martyrdom. 
"Better  minimize  the  martyrdom  business,"  was  the  sug- 
gestion. The  copy  readers  did  a  tremendous  excess  of 
emergency  work  that  night  that  went  for  nothing;  so 
did  the  correspondents,  the  reporters,  the  printers,  the 
telegraph  operators,  the  directing  editors — everybody 
who  had  to  do  with  getting  out  the  edition. 

From  reporting  to  copy  reading  is  a  natural  step  in 
the  progress  of  the  young  man  in  journalism.  Copy 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS  35 

reading  has  the  advantage  of  fixed  hours,  of  permanent 
salary,  of  a  minimum  of  emergency  or  extra  work  and 
of  permitting  daily  a  few  hours  for  recreation  or  study. 
It  has  the  disadvantage  of  being  routine  work  not  espe- 
cially interesting  or  inspiring,  without  pecuniary  re- 
ward of  importance  (salaries  are  from  forty  to  sixty- 
five  dollars  a  week  in  big  newspaper  offices  and  as  low  as 
twenty-five  dollars  in  small  ones)  and  of  having  the  at- 
tendant danger  of  getting  a  man  in  a  rut.  Every  office 
has  its  veteran  copy  readers  who  for  years  have  been1 
content  to  do  this  work.  To  perform  the  service  ac- 
ceptably requires  absorbing  attention,  unceasing  vigil, 
a  familiarity  with  current  events,  accurate  judgment  as 
to  the  news  value  of  every  article  and  a  genius  for  de- 
tecting errors  of  fact,  or  grammar,  or  of  any  kind. 
Colonel  John  W.  Forney  said : 

No  man  is  competent  to  edit  newspaper  manuscript  or 
reprint  unless  he  has  been  an '  extensive  and  analytical 
reader.  He  should,  moreover,  have  a  quick  and  keen  per- 
ception, as  well  as  a  retentive  memory  of  notorious  facts, 
of  celebrated  names  and  important  dates.  If  he  is  in  doubt 
he  should  never  fail  to  consult  reliable  encyclopedias,  tech- 
nical books,  pamphlets  and  like  granaries  of  information 
and  knowledge. 

How  does  the  copy  reader  exercise  his  ability?  All 
news  copy  goes  to  the  readers,  telegraph  copy  to 
the  telegraph  desk,  the  city  copy  to  the  city  desk  and 
so  forth.  The  head  reader  glances  at  each  article  long 
enough  to  absorb  a  notion  of  its  nature  and  make  a 
note  of  its  length  and  passes  it  to  one  of  the  other 


36          THE   YOUNG    MAN    AND   JOURNALISM 

readers.  This  man  edits  it  into  the  form  in  which  it  is 
to  appear  in  the  newspaper.  If  it  is  too  long  he  reduces 
it  by  stripping  it  of  its  verbiage  and  unimportant  facts, 
cutting  out  entire  sentences  and  even  paragraphs.  Un- 
consciously he  questions  every  statement  made  by  the 
writer,  so  keen  becomes  his  search  for  error.  If  an 
article  on  an  important  subject  is  inadequate  he  sends 
it  back  to  the  city  editor  for  amplification  or  explana- 
tion. If  the  article  is  unimportant  he  kills  it.  Always 
he  has  in  mind  that  the  sheet  is  crowded,  that  there 
isn't  room  for  half  of  what  is  offered.  He  acquires 
the  knack  of  condensation,  of  making  one  word  express 
the  meaning  of  half  a  sentence.  He  eliminates  super- 
fluous statements  and  obvious  explanations  and  dull 
conclusions.  If  he  be  wise  he  rereads  the  article  to  con- 
firm his  own  work.  Always  he  seeks  to  improve  the  ar- 
ticle, to  insert  a  snappy  word,  to  give  it  life,  to  smooth 
the  diction  or  make  it  more  rugged  as  befits  the  subject. 

When  reading  news  the  copy  reader  must  be  alert  for 
clews  to  additional  information,  for  side  issues  to  be 
added.  "The  assassin  has  lived  in  Canal  street,  New 
York"  said  one  of  the  Milwaukee  dispatches — and  in- 
stantly the  copy  reader  informed  the  city  editor  and  a 
reporter  was  soon  on  his  way  to  Canal  street  to  learn 
of  the  crazy  man's  record  there.  "Mrs.  Roosevelt  is 
at  the  Manhattan  Hotel"  said  another  message.  A  re- 
porter was  sent  to  her. 

The  copy  reader  must  steel  himself  against  the  re- 
porter who  tries  to  be  funny  and  isn't,  against  those 
persons  so  well  known  in  every  newspaper  office  who  seek 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS   37 

notoriety  by  getting  their  names  in  print,  against  the 
social  climbers,  against  the  men  who  want  puffs  and  free 
advertising,  against  the  wiles  of  the  press  agent  and 
the  preposterous  stories  about  the  people  he  is  exalting, 
against  the  schemers  whose  success  depends  on  news- 
paper publicity,  the  fake  charity  organizations,  the 
spurious  reform  agitations,  the  organizations  started 
merely  to  give  salaries  to  the  people  who  run  them,  the 
multitude  of  movements  created  to  give  some  one  no- 
toriety, the  constant  attempts  to  fool  the  public — the 
list  is  endless. 

The  copy  reader  must  be  familiar  with  the  big  events 
attracting  public  attention  for  he  may  be  called  to  re- 
vise their  next  chapter.  Many  big  cases  drag  on  for 
months.  Above  all  he  should  take  sympathetic  interest 
in  every  article  he  revises  and  in  its  writer.  His  every 
effort  should  be  to  improve  the  article.  My  own  ex- 
perience as  a  copy  reader  for  five  years  was  of  utmost 
usefulness  to  me.  Careful  editing  of  copy  fixes  the  sub- 
ject matter  of  the  copy  in  memory  almost  as  securely 
as  though  you  had  written  the  original. 

Surely  the  copy  reader  fills  an  especially  important 
post.  It  is  poor  policy  to  intrust  this  work  to  incom- 
petent men.  Nevertheless,  because  of  its  requirements, 
it  is  a  post  not  eagerly  sought.  It  is  thought  to  be  a 
thankless  task  with  little  to  show  for  results,  with  maxi- 
mum opportunity  for  error  and  minimum  for  praise. 
The  copy  reader  is  unlikely  to  be  sought  for  promotion. 
He  does  not  mingle  with  the  outside  world  as  does  the 
reporter.  He  sees  no  office  visitors  as  do  the  editors. 


38         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

His  work  attracts  little  favorable  attention.  If  he 
improves  a  manuscript  the  author,  not  the  copy  reader, 
gets  the  credit.  But  if  you  intend  to  follow  the  news- 
paper business,  by  all  means  take  a  turn  at  copy  read- 
ing, for  it  gives  valuable  experience  and  information 
and  the  practice  greatly  improves  your  diction. 

As  the  night  advances  the  avalanche  of  copy  in- 
creases, some  nights  in  greater  volume  than  others.  It 
is  a  curious  fact  that  news  volume  seems  to  ebb  and  flow 
like  the  ocean  tide,  although  irregularly,  not  steadily. 
For  days  the  news  world  will  be  calm,  little  of  interest 
develops,  nothing  but  routine  news  offers.  And  then 
for  days  at  a  time  news  breaks  out  from  all  directions, 
overwhelming  the  writing  and  the  revising  staffs,  up- 
setting all  plans  and  creating  confusion.  It  is  then 
that  the  managing  editor  admonishes :  "Gentlemen,  the 
paper  is  already  filled;  you  must  cut  everything 
rigidly";  and  the  head  copy  reader,  pushing  a  column 
manuscript  article  toward  an  assistant,  commands : 
"Put  it  in  a  quarter  of  a  column" ;  and  the  perspiring 
night  editor  shouts  from  the  composing  room  through 
the  telephone:  "Can't  take  another  line  except  must 
stuff."  "Must  stuff"  means  matter  that  simply  must 
be  printed.  "Stuff"  is  the  common  newspaper  office 
vernacular  for  all  copy,  whether  it  be  the  profound 
article  of  the  editor  in  chief  or  the  incident  of  a  crap 
game  on  the  pavement.  The  amateur  writer's  sensi- 
bilities are  shocked  sometimes  when  his  production  is 
called  "stuff." 

But  whether  the  tide  of  copy  is  at  ebb  or  flood  always 
there  is  too  much  of  it  and  the  copy  reader's  night 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS   39 

ends  in  the  contemplation  of  a  mass  of  discarded  manu- 
script and  a  ruin  of  reportorial  reputation. 

And  on  the  morrow  comes  an  awful  hour  of  reckon- 
ing. The  editor  in  chief  misses  from  his  own  paper  a 
bit  of  Washington  political  news  that  some  other  paper 
had  printed.  He  speaks  to  the  managing  editor  about 
it,  and  the  managing  editor  knowing  that  the  news  was 
in  the  office  and  was  not  printed,  damns  the  copy  reader 
for  throwing  it  away.  The  city  editor  who  had  gone 
home  with  visions  of  two  fine  fat  news  features  each 
of  an  embellished  column  in  length  finds  in  their  place 
two  emaciated  paragraphs  containing  naught  but  cold 
news  facts  with  no  juice  in  them — he  damns  the  copy 
readers.  The  reporters  who  wrote  the  column  stories, 
reduced  to  shreds,  surcharge  the  place  with  spectacular 
profanity  and  damn  the  copy  readers.  The  men  who 
wrote  twelve  dollars  worth  of  stuff  at  space  rates  and 
had  it  cut  down  to  three  dollars  worth,  damn  the  copy 
readers.  The  reporters  who  wrote  reams  of  routine 
stuff  that  did  not  appear  at  all,  damn  the  copy  readers. 
Everybody  damns  the  copy  readers! 

The  respectable  newspapers  of  America  strive  sin- 
cerely for  accuracy  of  statement.  Reporters  are  in- 
structed constantly  to  be  accurate.  Copy  readers  and 
every  one  else  in  the  place  are  urged  to  vigil  in  the 
detection  of  error.  The  news  rush  and  the  consequent 
confusion  in  the  last  half  hour  before  getting  to  press 
contribute  to  the  danger  of  mistake,  but  for  the  most 
part  every  newspaper  article  is  carefully  considered 
and  repeatedly  scrutinized. 

A  news  report  of  importance,  for  instance,  is  written 


40         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

by  an  experienced  reporter.  Usually  it  is  scanned  by 
the  city  editor.  It  is  then  revised  by  a  copy  reader  who 
is  supposed  to  be  expert  in  preparing  manuscript.  The 
compositor  puts  it  in  type  and  the  proof  reader  searches 
it  ostensibly  for  errors  in  typing,  but  always  must  he 
note  any  error.  He  is  expected  to  call  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  night  editor  any  misstatement  of  fact  or 
violation  of  newspaper  usage  or  of  practice. 

Then,  too,  in  almost  every  office  is  "the  learned  proof 
reader"  who  bothers  himself  not  with  typographical 
errors  but  who  reads  from  revised  proof  sheets  in 
searching  quest  of  anything  wrong — misused  words, 
verbal  or  grammatical  slips,  misspelled  proper  names, 
distortion  of  any  fact — and  it  is  curious  what  a  lot  of 
errors  he  digs  out  that  have  passed  everybody  else. 
Likewise  in  many  editorial  rooms  sits  another  all-wise 
man  who  in  a  semi-editorial  capacity  reads  proof  sheets 
of  all  matter  in  the  same  search  for  the  undesirable. 
The  managing  editor,  the  night  editor,  and  the  night 
city  editor  also  have  proof  sheets  of  all  matter  which 
they  read  devoutly  for  a  dozen  reasons.  Nevertheless 
there  appeared  in  one  of  our  especially  learned  and  cor- 
rect New  York  newspapers  a  sentence  written  by  a  re- 
porter and  passed  by  the  copy  reader,  the  proof  reader 
ordinaire,  the  learned  proof  reader,  the  editorial  proof 
reader  de  luxe,  the  managing  editor,  the  night  editor 
and  the  night  city  editor — a  sentence  that  read:  "He 
had  fractured  her  skull  by  hitting  it  with  an  empty 
bottle  of  beer." 

The  same  newspaper's  music  constituency  was  moved 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS   41 

to  emotion  one  morning  on  reading  that  applause  fol- 
lowed the  singing  of  "The  Soldiers'  Chorus  by  Faust." 
Whether  the  writer  intended  to  say  that  Faust  sang 
the  chorus,  or  the  chorus  was  written  by  Faust,  or 
that  it  was  from  the  opera  of  Faust  probably  never  will 
be  known,  but  the  chances  are  that  he  inadvertently 
wrote  "by  Faust"  when  he  intended  to  write  "from 
Faust." 

Truth  is,  that  human  intelligence  has  not  yet  de- 
vised a  way  of  keeping  error  out  of  printed  publica- 
tions. The  public  does  not  understand  the  painstaking 
care  with  which  news  is  presented  by  well  regulated 
newspapers,  nor  are  the  difficulties  or  the  unfavorable 
conditions  under  which  newspapers  are  made  at  all 
appreciated  by  people  who  read.  Men  of  other  profes- 
sions have  almost  unlimited  time  for  consideration. 
The  lawyer  may  devote  months  to  the  preparation  of 
his  case.  The  clergyman  may  take  seven  days  to 
perfect  his  sermon.  The  physician  at  times  is  called 
to  quick  action,  but  usually  he  may  ponder  for  hours 
or  days  over  the  condition  of  his  patient. 

But  quick  judgment  and  quick  action  are  a  daily 
necessity  in  the  newspaper  office.  The  biggest  event  of 
the  month  may  explode  an  hour  before  time  for  going 
to  press.  The  news  must  be  prepared  with  frantic 
haste  with  half  the  staff  tumbling  over  each  other,  so 
to  speak,  in  the  rush  to  be  on  time.  In  afternoon 
sheets  all  news  received  after  one  o'clock  and  in  morning 
editions  after  midnight  are  subject  to  this  acceleration 
of  mind  and  movement  and  persons  who  have  not  par- 


42         THE   YOUNG    MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

ticipated  in  the  spasm  can  little  appreciate  the  oppor- 
tunity for  error. 

In  these  hours  a  man's  experience,  his  general  knowl- 
edge of  the  business,  is  of  great  assistance.  It  is 
then  that  his  confidence  or  his  distrust  in  the  source 
of  the  information  governs.  Rumor  is  the  busybody 
of  the  business  and  her  moments  of  greatest  activity 
are  just  before  the  time  for  going  to  press. 

It  is  true,  also,  that  first  accounts  of  great  events 
are  likely  to  be  exaggerated ;  almost  always  are  greatly 
exaggerated.  The  cable  flash  announcing  the  blowing 
up  of  the  Maine  in  Havana  harbor  said  that  not  a  man 
remained  alive.  The  first  brief  telegram  telling  of  the 
San  Francisco  earthquake  reported  that  not  a  building 
remained  standing.  With  the  first  report  of  the  assas- 
sination of  Colonel  Roosevelt  came  the  statement  that 
he  was  dead.  First  reports  of  losses  of  life  in  great 
disasters,  of  losses  in  big  fires,  are  usually  double  the 
actual  loss. 

It  is  a  vital  part  of  newspaper  vigil  to  question  all 
unusual  or  extraordinary  statements  and  news  editors 
by  habit  come  to  doubt  every  statement  made.  This  is 
meant  to  be  said  of  honest  editors;  the  dishonest  ones 
seek  to  exaggerate  the  original  exaggeration. 

The  preparation  of  newspaper  copy  in  the  last  hour 
before  going  to  press  gives  supreme  test  to  the  writer's 
powers  of  concentration,  his  self-possession,  and  his 
agility  of  mind.  It  happens  frequently  that  the  manag- 
ing editor  says  to  him,  "You  have  just  eight  minutes 
in  which  to  finish  that  article"  and  a  little  later  the 
night  editor  may  cry  out:  "Close  everything  for  this 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS      43 

edition  in  five  minutes."  It  is  exceedingly  disturbing 
to  the  young  man  who  is  beginning.  The  experienced 
men  are  unmoved.  It  is  common  enough  for  a  man  to 
write  in  an  hour  after  midnight  a  column  or  more  about 
a  murder,  a  fire,  a  calamity,  or  the  obituary  of  a  dis- 
tinguished person.  Men  who  do  this  rapid  work  at 
the  last  instant  may  have  been  on  duty  for  ten  or  twelve 
hours  and  the  climax  to  the  day's  labor  calls  for  greater 
intensity  than  anything  that  has  preceded.  Physical 
endurance  is  involved  as  well  as  mental  celerity. 

The  invention  of  the  typewriter  has  helped  vastly 
to  speed  up  newspaper  composition.  The  reporter  may 
dictate  his  narrative.  In  the  old  days  frequently  he 
had  to  make  a  long  journey  to  the  newspaper  office 
before  beginning  to  work  with  pen  or  pencil.  Nowa- 
days, if  need  be,  he  dictates  his  report  through  the 
telephone  to  a  typewriter  in  the  office.  Newspaper 
correspondents  five  hundred,  and  even  one  thousand, 
miles  away  do  this  kind  of  emergency  telephoning. 

Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  modern  invention  has  revo- 
lutionized the  process  of  speeding  up  newspaper  mak- 
ing. When  I  first  went  to  New  York  the  capacity  of 
the  improved  newspaper  press  was  eight  pages.  If  a 
larger  paper  were  wanted  the  extra  pages  were  printed 
separately  as  a  supplement  many  hours  before  the  main 
eight  sheet  was  put  to  press.  To-day,  thanks  to  the 
inventor  of  the  multiple  printing  press,  the  news  editor 
may  decide  fifteen  minutes  before  going  to  press  whether 
to  make  a  twelve  page  newspaper  or  a  twenty  page 
newspaper  or  even  a  thirty-four  page  newspaper. 

The  big  modern  newspaper  is  made  with  a  speed  that 


44         THE   YOUNG    MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

is  almost  bewildering.  For,  in  place  of  the  old  laborious 
journeying  to  the  office,  the  writing  of  the  news  with 
pen  or  pencil,  the  typesetting  of  the  same  by  hand  and 
the  old  style  stereotyping  process  requiring  half  an 
hour,  the  printing  of  sheets  limited  to  eight  pages  on 
presses  that  produced  only  about  fifteen  thousand 
copies  an  hour — in  place  of  these  clumsy  processes, 
news  reports  are  dictated  over  the  telephone,  the  matter 
is  set  by  machinery  in  a  fraction  of  the  time  formerly 
required,  is  stereotyped  in  six  minutes  and  set  going 
on  half  a  dozen  presses  with  a  capacity  each  of  more 
than  thirty  thousand  copies  an  hour. 

The  reporting  of  big  events  that  may  be  anticipated, 
like  the  inauguration  of  a  president,  a  great  festival  in 
honor  of  a  martial  hero  or  in  commemoration  of  peace, 
or  a  popular  demonstration  of  any  sort — anything 
that  is  scheduled  to  happen,  is  carefully  arranged  for 
in  advance. 

It  is  conceded  that  the  biggest  and  most  important 
single  piece  of  news  handled  up  to  that  time  in  a  news- 
paper office  was  the  story  of  the  loss  of  the  Titanic. 
The  finest  steamship  that  ever  had  been  made  struck 
an  iceberg  on  her  first  voyage  and  sank  with  a  loss 
of  fifteen  hundred  persons,  including  scores  of  our 
well  known  residents — and  that  was  all  we  knew  of  the 
disaster  until  the  survivors  were  landed  on  a  New  York 
pier.  The  wireless  had  sent  a  partial  list  of  survivors 
but  not  a  word  of  detail  about  the  disaster  itself.  Pub- 
lic interest  was  tremendously  excited.  It  was  known 
that  the  survivors  were  to  land  at  a  given  hour  in  the 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS      45 

evening  and  city  editors  had  plenty  of  time  to  arrange 
for  getting  the  great  narrative  but  limited  time  for 
writing  it — for  newspapers  must  go  to  press  on  the  min- 
ute in  order  that  mail  and  express  bundles  of  the  edition 
may  catch  outgoing  trains. 

Thirty  or  forty  reporters  were  sent  by  each  New 
York  newspaper  to  meet  the  rescue  ship.  Each  man 
had  a  definite  thing  to  do.  One  man,  for  instance,  was 
to  write  a  column  of  just  what  had  been  going  on  in 
the  ship  for  the  twenty-four  hours  before  she  sank. 
Another  was  to  write  of  the  warnings  to  the  Titanic's 
officers  that  ice  fields  were  ahead.  Another  was  to  ex- 
plain just  how  the  ship  struck,  how  she  was  damaged 
and  how  and  when  she  filled  and  sank.  A  fourth  was 
to  describe  in  detail  how  the  life  boats  were  manned 
and  launched  and  who  went  in  them.  A  fifth  was  to  tell 
of  nothing  except  what  the  commander  of  the  ship  was 
doing  up  to  the  moment  he  was  lost.  Six  or  eight  re- 
porters were  instructed  to  get  as  many  narratives  of 
the  experiences  of  survivors  as  possible — and  so  on 
preparations  were  made  to  the  completion  of  every  de- 
tail that  possibly  could  be  anticipated — every  man  in" 
structed  exactly  what  to  do  and  warned  not  to  at- 
tempt anything  else. 

The  preparations  for  printing  this  great  narrative — 
and  doing  it  in  a  hurry — occupied  many  hours  of  the 
time  of  managing  and  city  editors.  The  organization 
of  forces  was  necessary  to  prevent  duplication  and  con- 
fusion, useless  running  about  and  tumbling  over  each 
other  by  reporters. 


46         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

As  an  additional  precaution  to  save  time  of  report- 
ers in  going  from  the  pier  to  the  newspaper  office,  a 
dozen  telephones  were  set  up  in  a  shed  on  the  pier  and 
a  dozen  of  the  reporters  were  instructed  to  dictate  their 
reports  into  the  transmitters  and  a  dozen  typewriters 
were  ready  to  take  them  in  the  newspaper  office. 

The  first  sentence  of  this  big  story  was  written  at 
10 :20  in  the  evening,  and  copy  for  the  first  edition  was 
shut  off  two  hours  afterward.  The  first  edition  presses 
were  started  on  time  to  the  minute  with  four  pages  of 
the  disaster.  A  second  edition  one  hour  later  had 
seven  pages  of  disaster  matter — the  narrative  com- 
plete— about  equivalent  in  amount  to  the  reading  mat- 
ter of  the  usual  edition  of  the  Scribner  monthly 
magazine. 

In  doing  this  task  neither  the  writing  force  nor  the 
mechanical  department  was  extended  or  distressed  or 
overworked.  They  could  easily  perform  the  same  feat 
every  night  in  the  week  under  the  same  organization  and 
loyal  staff  teamwork. 

It  is  the  business  and  the  duty  of  the  managing  editor 
to  oversee  all  of  these  details.  He  is  the  executive 
officer  of  the  newspaper.  His  first  duty  is  to  carry  out 
the  policies  of  the  editor  in  chief  or  the  owner.  He 
is  responsible  for  what  goes  into  the  paper.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  know  what  is  going  on  in  every  hemisphere  and 
in  every  island  of  the  sea  and  to  have  it  properly  pre- 
sented in  the  news  columns.  He  must  read  the  other 
newspapers  and  periodicals  to  know  what  they  are 
printing  and  what  of  their  contents  should  be  printed 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS   47 

in  his  own  next  edition.  He  hires  the  staff,  except  the 
editorial  writers,  fixes  the  salaries,  obtains  and  directly 
supervises  the  matter  for  every  column  except  the  edi- 
torial page.  He  must,  indeed,  keep  a  sharp  eye  on 
that  page  as  well,  for  it  happens  frequently  that  after 
an  editorial  article  is  ready  for  printing,  along  comes 
later  news  that  entirely  changes  the  situation  and  calls 
for  revision  of  the  article. 

He  decides  questions  in  dispute.  His  best  asset 
should  be  good  judgment:  judgment  what  not  to  print 
as  well  as  what  should  be  printed;  judgment  as  to 
proper  news  values,  whether  to  give  one,  two,  or  three 
columns  to  an  unexpected  piece  of  news  that  explodes 
in  Washington,  Dawson  City  or  off  Montauk  Point: 
judgment  whether  to  chance  a  libel  suit  on  one  article 
or  the  infringement  of  copyright  in  another;  whether 
to  minimize  a  social  or  a  political  movement  or  boom 
it.  And  when  these  questions  are  flashed  on  this  un- 
fortunate man  just  as  the  edition  is  going  to  press  it 
must  be  a  quick  as  well  as  a  decisive  judgment. 

The  managing  editor  has  to  deal  with  men  of  all 
ages  and  of  all  experiences.  A  big  staff  includes  cranks, 
and  enthusiasts,  students  and  philosophers,  men  of 
every  race  and  religion  whose  illuminated  intelligence 
reflects  every  phase  of  eccentricity,  every  degree  of 
sanity,  as  well  as  every  perfection  of  common  sense — 
men  of  intelligence,  earnestness,  sensitiveness,  filled  with 
ambition  and  alive  with  interest  and  seeking  above  all 
to  succeed  in  the  business. 

The  managing  editor  needs  the  cooperation  of  all 


48         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

these  men.  A  loyal  staff  is  full  of  suggestions,  will  go 
to  extremes  in  support  of  its  leader ;  an  indifferent  staff 
is  silent.  It  depends  largely  on  how  the  staff  is  treated 
by  the  management,  whether  it  is  loyal  or  indifferent. 

Now  you  cannot  manage  a  newspaper  staff  as  you 
might  a  section  gang  building  a  railroad.  It  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  intelligent,  sensitive  writers  will  spring 
to  their  work,  will  do  better  work,  while  smarting  under 
severe  reproof  or  constant  nagging.  If  they  do  it  is  be- 
cause they  fear  to  lose  their  jobs,  rather  than  from 
zeal.  Not  much  good  newspaper  work  is  done  under 
an  uplifted  club.  Little  else  than  resentment  results 
from  angry  words. 

One  reason  for  Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana's  success  may 
be  found  in  his  fine  leadership.  He  inspired  the  con- 
fidence of  his  helpers  by  his  surpassing  knowledge  of 
the  business.  He  encouraged  them  by  his  recognition 
and  appreciation  of  superior  work  and  his  absolute 
justice  toward  them.  He  fascinated  them  by  his  genial 
ways.  Everybody  loved  him  and  would  do  anything 
for  him.  The  editor  of  ability  that  endears  himself  to 
his  staff  will  surely  make  a  great  newspaper.  The 
editor  whose  ability  is  not  respected,  who  does  not  rec- 
ognize good  service,  who  is  constantly  nagging  and 
complaining  and  finding  fault,  and  arousing  resent- 
ment— he  will  see  his  circulation  slipping  away  and 
his  influence  diminishing.  A  newspaper  staff  is  made 
up  of  delicately  constructed,  sensitive,  self-respecting 
men  and  women. 

The  managing  editor  hires  the  staff.     And,  as  the 


COLLECTING  AND  CORRECTING  NEWS  REPORTS      49 

success  of  the  newspaper  depends  on  the  writers,  it 
behooves  him  to  be  careful  in  the  selection.  The  staff 
changes  somewhat  rapidly,  its  members  drop  out  to 
go  to  better  posts  on  other  newspapers  or  into  other 
businesses  and  new  men  are  called  to  their  places. 
Methods  of  recruiting  the  staff  differ  in  different  offices. 
Many  of  the  most  successful  newspapers  have  a  way  of 
hiring  young  men  to  join  as  reporters  and  gradually 
advancing  them  through  a  continuous  process  of 
growth.  Thus  a  man  is  available  always  to  fill  a  va- 
cancy and  the  staff  in  general  is  always  complete.  The 
real  vacancy  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  list.  Three  months* 
trial  usually  tests  out  a  beginner. 

The  newspaper  is  overrun  with  applicants.  Every 
graduating  college  class  includes  some  men  who  wish 
to  try  the  business.  The  schools  of  journalism  in  the 
United  States  are  turning  out  about  four  thousand 
students  yearly  who  want  to  go  to  work  immediately. 
Many  broken-down  clergymen  and  discarded  school 
teachers  think  they  can  write  and  they  apply  along  with 
professional  men,  clerks,  salesmen  and  others  who  have 
failed  to  make  good.  A  swarm  of  high  school  boys  come 
along  after  graduation.  Very  many  men  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  country  or  small  city  newspapers  want  to  get 
going  in  the  big  cities.  Bright  newspaper  office  boys 
seek  to  become  reporters  and  go  on  to  success.  It  is 
from  all  of  these  that  the  staff  is  recruited.  The 
managing  editor  of  experience  comes  to  know  almost 
by  instinct  whether  an  applicant  will  make  a  good  news- 
paper man,  and  while  few  of  those  who  come  are  selected, 


50         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

it  is  also  true  that  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  are 
taken  make  good. 

The  supervision  of  the  modern  newspaper  is  much 
more  difficult  than  it  was  forty  years  ago  for  the  reason 
that  the  staff  is  four  or  five  times  as  large.  The  size 
of  the  sheet  has  been  more  than  quadrupled.  The 
managing  editor  no  longer  finds  it  possible  to  read  every 
paragraph  in  proof  sheet  before  its  publication;  he 
must  trust  to  his  helpers.  The  increased  volume  of 
matter  compels  increased  labor  in  originating  it,  in- 
creased attention  to  its  consideration  and  preparation 
for  printing.  The  managing  editor's  work  literally  is 
fourfold  what  it  used  to  be.  The  tendency  of  the  hour 
is  toward  yet  larger  editions. 


CHAPTER  HI- 
NEWSPAPER  COMPOSITION— THE  ART  OF 
G  IN  SIMPLE  YET 
TAINING  FASHION 


v/ 
WRITING  IN  SIMPLE  YET  ENTER- 


THE  young  man  just  starting  in  journalism  is  asked 
to  write  in  the  simplest  words  and  the  shortest  sentences 
at  his  command.  He  is  told  that  the  reader  wants  facts 
rather  than  elegances  of  expression  and  that  the  plain- 
est language  is  the  best  newspaper  style. 

By  plain  language  is  not  meant  the  language  of 
the  child's  primer,  but  rather  the  use  of  good  Saxon 
concrete  nouns  and  active  verbs  in  sentences  not  em- 
bellished with  verbose  phrases.  Nevertheless,  when  edi- 
tors tell  the  young  reporter  to  use  the  plainest  language 
they  mean  usually  that  they  will  be  satisfied  with  it  in 
his  routine  reporting.  But  they  encourage  the  study 
of  "how  to  produce  rich  effects  by  the  use  of  familiar 
words,"  how  to  write  not  only  with  steadiness  and 
strength,  but  also  with  those  little  embellishments  of 
incidental  word  and  phrase  that  lift  the  work  above 
the  commonplace.  And  they  unceasingly  urge  the 
necessity  of  good  writing — for  not  anywhere  is  good 
writing  appreciated  more  than  in  a  newspaper  office. 

To  write  the  simple  language  requires  much  study 

51 


52         THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

and  practice — more,  indeed,  than  to  write  the  other 
kind.  It  is  natural  for  people,  children  especially,  to 
use  simple  words,  but  the  schools  and  colleges  have 
taught,  until  within  a  few  years,  the  writing  of  rather 
high-sounding  prose.  Textbooks  have  reflected  Dr. 
Johnson's  ornate  paragraphs,  Macaulay's  massive  pro- 
fundities, Washington  Irving's  beautifully  rounded 
florid  sentences,  and  Sir  Walter  Scott's  superlatives. 
For  years  and  years  they  were  commended  to  students 
of  literature  for  imitation.  The  effect  of  this  teaching 
remains.  We  find  it  difficult  to  write  in  the  same  sim- 
plicity with  which  we  talk.  It  does  not  come  natural 
to  us.  The  editor  gave  fine  advice  to  the  cartoonist 
from  whom  he  wanted  an  article.  Said  the  cartoonist : 
"He  just  offered  me  one  suggestion — inasmuch  as  I 
was  not  a  regular  writer — that  I  refrain  from  trying 
to  write  and  simply  tell  in  my  own  words  as  though 
I  were  telling  it  to  my  wife."  That's  it:  refrain  from 
trying  to  write  if  you  wish  to  write  in  simple  language 
and  simple  style. 

It  is  well  enough  to  write  as  you  talk  if  you  are 
a  good  talker.  Hundreds  of  articles  of  advice  in  the 
last  fifty  years  have  urged  young  men  to  write  as  they 
talk.  But  almost  all  talk  is  without  study,  is  common- 
place, is  not  the  expression  of  consecutive  thought,  is 
disjointed  construction.  It  is  recognized  that  dictated 
articles  have  less  finish  than  those  penned.  Neverthe- 
less, the  direct  way,  the  simplest  way  is  undoubtedly 
the  best  way  of  writing.  Emerson  says:  "The  speech 
of  the  street  is  incomparably  more  forceful  than  the 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  53 

speech  of  the  academy."  Lafcadio  Hearn  says  of  Kip- 
ling: "No  one  has  managed  to  produce  great  effects 
with  so  few  words." 

But  why  speak  of  it  as  "newspaper  style,"  when 
there  isn't  any  such  thing?  Almost  every  kind  of  writ- 
ing is  used  by  newspapers.  All  kinds  of  literature  are 
printed  in  them — the  scholarly  essay,  the  article  of 
argument,  the  expository  editorial  paragraph,  the  story 
of  fiction,  the  language  of  verse,  the  consideration  of 
art,  music,  the  play,  all  sorts  of  description  of  all 
kinds  of  happenings  in  every  part  of  our  old  earth — 
and  all  are  written  without  uniformity  of  diction  or 
construction.  There  is  no  style  that  the  newspaper 
rejects.  The  experienced  editor  seeks  diversity  of  writ- 
ing and  of  topic  in  every  column.  He  studies  to  that 
end. 

Some  style  of  writing  is  so  plain  that  you  do  not 
notice  it.  It  is  like  the  well  dressed  man  whose  clothing 
is  so  simple  and  appropriate  that  it  is  not  attract- 
ing attention  wherever  he  goes.  Merimee  said  of  Stend- 
hal that  he  despised  mere  style  and  insisted  that  a 
writer  had  attained  perfection  when  we  remember  his 
ideas  without  recalling  his  phrases.  Of  George  Saints- 
bury,  the  English  critic,  it  was  said:  "He  always 
thought  it  of  more  importance  to  utter  the  thought 
than  to  care  about  the  form  of  utterance.  .  .  .  If  he 
had  given  more  attention  to  style  we  should  have  been 
deprived  of  some  of  the  benefits  of  his  knowledge." 

Indeed,  some  great  newspaper  narratives  are  of  such 
absorbing  interest  in  themselves — great  disasters  like 


54         THE   YOUNG   MAN    AND   JOURNALISM 

the  sinking  of  the  Liisitania  or  the  Titanic — that  the 
reader's  attention  is  entirely  concentrated  on  the  facts 
and  he  does  not  notice  the  diction  or  the  construction. 
No  matter  how  disjointed  or  horribly  written  the  nar- 
rative may  be  he  finishes  it  with  the  impression  that 
he  has  read  a  great  article.  Nevertheless,  every  ar- 
ticle is  the  better  for  good  telling.  And  probably  no 
greater  newspaper  accomplishment  exists  than  the  abil- 
ity to  write  well.  It  is  of  increasing  value  as  the  young 
man  goes  on  to  higher  grade  work. 

Sir  Arthur  Quiller-Couch  in  a  lecture  to  the  Cam- 
bridge students  urges  them  to  study  writing  and  to 
practice  writing,  to  write  and  rewrite  with  intent  to 
gain  facility  in  diction  and  in  the  fashioning  of  sen- 
tences, and  especially  to  seek  to  make  their  prose  "ac- 
curate, perspicuous,  persuasive,  and  appropriate."  He 
would  insure  greater  accuracy  by  the  study  and  prac- 
tice of  the  use  of  words.  Thought  and  speech  being 
inseparable,  it  follows  that  we  cannot  use  the  humblest 
processes  of  thought — cannot  resolve  to  take  our  bath 
hot  or  cold,  or  decide  what  to  order  for  breakfast — 
without  forecasting  it  in  some  form  of  words.  Words, 
in  fine,  he  urges,  are  the  only  currency  in  which  we 
can  exchange  thought  even  with  ourselves.  Does  it  not 
follow,  then,  that  the  more  accurately  we  use  words  the 
closer  definition  we  shall  give  to  our  thoughts?  "And 
by  drilling  ourselves  to  write  perspicuously  we  train  our 
minds  to  clarify  our  thought,  since  language  is  the  ex- 
pression of  thought.  The  first  aim  of  speech  is  to  be 
understood  and  the  more  clearly  we  write  the  more 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  55 

easily  and  surely  we  will  be  understood.  Not  to  be 
understood  is  to  be  a  sloven  in  speech." 

Lafcadio  Hearn  urged  the  students  of  the  University 
of  Tokyo  to  study  the  construction  of  sentences — to 
write  them  over  and  over  again  until  they  were  nearly 
perfect,  saying: 

A  thing  once  written  is  not  literature.  .  .  .  No  man  can 
produce  real  literature  at  one  writing.  ...  To  produce 
even  a  single  sentence  of  good  literature  requires  that  the 
text  be  written  at  least  three  times.  .  .  .  For  literature 
more  than  for  any  other  art  the  all-necessary  thing  is 
patience. 

He  advised  the  students  to  write  a  practice  piece  and 
put  it  away  for  a  week.  Then  to  revise  it  and  put  it 
away  again,  and  to  continue  the  process  of  revision 
until  they  could  improve  it  no  more. 

Tolstoy  rewrote  his  important  work  three  or  four 
times.  Rossetti  revised  "The  Blessed  Damosel"  in  many 
.editions  until  the  last  was  quite  unlike  the  first.  Tenny- 
son changed  his  productions  over  and  again.  Gray 
was  fourteen  years  in  perfecting  the  "Elegy."  It  is 
notorious  that  Sir  Walter  Scott's  later  novels,  written 
at  great  speed,  are  much  inferior  to  his  earlier  more 
leisurely  work.  Samuel  Butler's  masterpiece  "The  Way 
of  All  Flesh"  was  under  construction  for  twelve  years. 

All  literary  history  furnishes  examples  of  great  au- 
thors who  toiled  long  over  their  manuscripts.  Macaulay 
devoted  more  time  to  revising  his  essays  than  to  writ- 
ing them.  Their  superiority  over  his  history,  as  liter- 
ary products,  is  revealed  by  study  of  them.  The  his- 


50         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

tory  was  written  more  hurriedly.  The  essays  are  the 
product  of  nearly  one  hundred  years  ago,  but  they 
serve  to  illustrate  the  possibilities  of  our  language  and 
the  beauties  of  thoughtful  writing  and  intense  thinking. 
We  look  elsewhere  in  vain  for  such  adroit  phrasing  and 
such  thunder-claps  of  climax.  Study  them,  young  man ! ) 

Some  present-day  writers  criticize  Macaulay  for  his 
long-drawn  sentences,  his  reiteration  and  his  wander- 
ings from  the  narrative  into  a  confusion  of  details. 
Yet  Macaulay  was  imitated  by  essayists  for  fifty  years. 
His  style  was  the  vogue.  And  Macaulay  in  turn  had 
both  praised  and  criticized  in  no  feeble  fashion  his 
great  predecessor,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  who  had  been 
the  vogue  for  nearly  a  hundred  years. 

The  men  of  greatest  reputation  as  critics,  Sainte- 
Beuve,  Edmund  Gosse,  Macaulay,  Saintsbury  and 
others,  put  intensive  study  into  what  they  wrote.  If 
they  were  to  review  a  book  they  made  a  study  of  the 
subject  of  the  book  and  of  the  life  and  mentality  of  the 
author:  and  sometimes  their  production  was  of  more 
use  to  the  world  than  the  book  itself.  Their  works  are 
not  so  much  read  in  this  money-making  age,  but  they 
are  among  the  great  contributions  to  thoughtful  litera- 
ture and  the  student  of  journalism  will  read  them  with 
great  profit  to  himself.  For  your  own  work  is  to  be 
thoughtful  work — work  intended  to  persuade  and  in- 
fluence readers  to  your  own  way  of  thinking. 

Writing  for  newspapers  differs  from  other  literary 
work  in  this:  the  newspaper  writer  has  little  oppor- 
tunity for  revision.  Almost  all  articles  for  daily  sheets 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  57 

are  written  at  a  single  sitting.  The  writers  of  editorial 
articles  have  several  hours  in  which  to  compose  and 
usually  they  get  a  proof  sheet  for  revision.  The  writers 
of  short  news  articles  may  read  and  correct  their  manu- 
script. But  in  the  big  offices  as  soon  as  the  reporter 
who  is  writing  an  article  of  any  considerable  length 
has  finished  two  or  three  pages  they  are  grabbed  by  an 
office  boy,  hurried  to  a  copy  reader  who  revises  them 
as  best  he  may  and  rushes  them  to  the  composing  room 
to  be  typed.  The  writer  does  not  see  his  pages  again, 
does  not  read  them  over,  even,  after  writing  them.  All 
big  reports — stories  of  great  disasters,  of  football 
matches,  of  public  meetings  or  demonstrations  are  pre- 
pared with  this  haste. 

The  play  house  and  opera  critics  compose  under 
these  same  trying  conditions  with  no  opportunity  for 
leisurely  thought  or  revision.  It  is  difficult,  indeed,  to 
write  of  a  great  performance  in  a  whirlwind  of  hurry, 
with  less  than  two  hours  for  deliberate  and  consecutive 
thought.  The  French  critic's  way  of  presenting  a  news 
paragraph  in  the  edition  following  the  performance 
and  reserving  a  carefully  prepared  review  for  a  later- 
date  publication  commends  itself;  but  the  American 
newspapers  continue  to  print  exhaustive  comments  on 
first-night  performances  two  or  three  hours  after  the 
fall  of  the  curtain.  The  opera  critic  has  the  advantage 
of  attending  rehearsals  of  new  operas  and  he  may  pre- 
pare parts  of  his  article  in  advance,  but  rehearsals  are 
spiritless,  for  performers  have  not  the  inspiration  and 
response  of  the  audience. 


58         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

Intensity  of  thought  and  concentration  must  en- 
gross the  newspaper  writer.  He  must  prepare  himself 
by  study  and  practice  to  throw  every  atom  of  his  men- 
tal vitality  into  the  work,  to  write  immediately  and 
without  expectation  of  revision  exactly  what  should  ap- 
pear in  the  newspaper.  Mind  discipline  is  a  powerful 
factor.  The  man  must  school  himself  to  work  under 
conditions  of  mental  anguish,  physical  distress,  heart 
sorrow  or  unhappiness  of  any  sort.  He  cannot  sur- 
render to  moods,  whims,  or  to  physical  sensations.  He 
must  continue  hour  after  hour,  day  after  day,  with  the 
same  hurry-up  speed.  As  in  crowded  Broadway,  if  you 
cannot  keep  up  with  the  procession  you  must  be  trodden 
on  or  take  to  a  side  street,  so  must  the  active  newspaper 
man  everlastingly  keep  going.  It  is  largely  a  matter 
of  mind  discipline,  of  study  and  of  practice,  of  in- 
tense mental  concentration  and  of  swiftness  of  thought. 

Please  do  not  undervalue  the  priceless  benefits  of 
practice — of  practice  that  will  give  skill  in  saying  ex- 
actly what  you  want  to  say  the  first  time  you  say  it.  In 
leisurely  writing  you  may  rewrite  and  change  and  make 
perfect,  but  in  newspaper  writing  you  have  one  dash 
only  at  it  without  much  opportunity  for  change  or  re- 
vision. Your  reputation  as  a  newspaper  writer  hangs 
on  that  one  attempt.  You  can  cultivate  the  gift  of 
ready  speech  in  writing  just  as  many  a  finished  orator 
has  cultivated  it  in  speaking. 

It  is  said  of  President  Woodrow  Wilson  that  early 
in  his  youth  he  appreciated  the  advantages  of  ready 
speech  and  set  about  to  improve  himself  in  its  use.  He 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  59 

practiced  speaking  long  and  constantly.  In  the  seclu- 
sion of  his  room  he  conducted  imaginary  debates,  talk- 
ing to  himself  on  first  one  side  and  then  the  other  of 
some  public  question.  On  his  walks,  while  a  student,  he 
addressed  the  crags  and  peaks,  the  winding  rivers,  the 
peaceful  meadows — all  for  practice  in  the  quick  use  of 
language,  the  shading  of  sentences  and  the  putting  of 
emphasis  on  climaxes  of  thought  and  conclusion.  And 
he  became  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  convincing 
and  scholarly  public  speakers  this  country,  or  any 
other  country  for  that  matter,  has  ever  known. 

The  young  writer  should  seek  to  rise  above  the  com- 
monplace. It  was  said  of  Machiavelli  that  "having 
adopted  some  of  the  maxims  then  generally  received  he 
arranged  them  more  luminously  and  expressed  them 
more  forcibly  than  any  other  writer."  The  young 
writer  should  cultivate  the  art  of  making  his  words 
and  sentences  exude  the  very  spirit  of  the  occasion — 
the  art  of  describing  joyous  events  with  joyous  words 
and  of  shadowing  melancholy  happenings  in  the  lan- 
guage of  gloom.  He  should  seek'the  faculty  of  "making 
obscure  truth  pleasing,  of  making  repulsive  truth  at- 
tractive." Let  him  follow  the»counsel  of  a  distinguished 
critic  who  says : 

Choose  concrete  nouns  rather  than  vague,  abstract  woolly 
ones. 

Use  straightforward  speech  rather  than  circumlocution. 

Remember  that  the  first  virtue,  the  touchstone  of  mascu- 
line style  is  the  use  of  the  active  verb  and  concrete  noun. 
When  you  write  in  the  active  voice,  "They  gave  him  a  silver 


60         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

teapot"  you  write  as  a  man.     When  you  write,  "He  was 
made  the  recipient  of  a  silver  teapot"  you  write  jargon. 

Avoid  overworked  words  is  common  advice  to  young 
journalists.  An  article  in  the  Writer  has  much  to  say 
of  ways  by  which  the  constant  use  of  the  word  "said" 
may  be  prevented.  "Said"  sometimes  becomes  monoto- 
nous, especially  in  the  dialogue  of  fiction;  but  almost 
always  another  verb  may  be  found  to  express  the  au- 
thor's meaning.  The  Writer  printed  a  list  of  three 
hundred  and  eighty-two  verbs,  found  in  about  fifty 
magazine  stories,  which  had  been  used  instead  of  "said." 
Frequently  the  use  of  a  verb  helps  to  make  more  con- 
cise as  well  as  to  avoid  the  word  "said."  "  'It  hurts,* 
said  John,  in  a  complaining  tone,"  is  not  so  good  as 
"  'It  hurts,'  John  complained."  Again,  "  'Please  help 
me,'  said  the  beggar  in  pitiful  beseeching  appeal,"  is 
better  expresed  by  "  'Please  help  me,'  the  beggar  plead- 
ed." The  language  is  rich  in  verbs. 

Another  greatly  overworked  word,  and  a  slow  word 
as  well,  is  the  word  "show."  It  does  seem  as  though 
the  average  newspaper  writer  cannot  think  of  any  other 
word  when  he  writes  that  "this  action" — or  "this  event" 
— or  "this  conclusion" — or  "this  computation  shows 
that" — etc.,  when  he  might  say,  attests,  evinces,  betok- 
ens, bespeaks,  implies,  indicates,  proves — or  any  other 
suitable  verb  of  the  twenty-five  or  more  he  may  find 
in  a  thesaurus. 

Constant  looseness  of  speech  is  found  in  the  use  of 
explanatory  phrases  that  might  be  expressed  by  a 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  61 

single  verb.  The  verb  is  the  heart  of  language  life,  the 
soul  of  expression.  Why,  for  instance,  do  we  write, 
"He  reflected  on  the  situation"  when  "he  cogitated" 
would  express  all? 

Let  us  illustrate  a  bit  more: 

He  spoke  reprovingly  to  the  boy.    He  chided  the  boy. 

He  spoke  in  a  mocking,  deriding  manner.    He  jeered.   ^ 

His  breath  came  convulsively  and  brokenly.  He 
gasped. 

They  exchanged  idle  words  and  gossip.  They 
babbled. 

He  gave  utterance  again  to  the  thought.  He  echoed 
the  thought. 

He  was  filled  with  wonder.     He  marveled. 

He  busied  himself  with  the  affairs  of  his  neighbors. 
He  meddled. 

He  thought  over  the  situation.    He  meditated. 

He  uttered  a  suppressed  groan.     He  moaned. 

She  spoke  in  low  indistinct  words.     She  mumbled. 

His  was  an  exhibition  of  empty  talk.     He  palavered. 

I  am  aware  that  these  things  are  elementary — ex- 
ceedingly elementary,  but  they  are  of  utmost  import  to 
young  newspaper  writers.  Slovenly,  disjointed,  con- 
fused diction  must  retard  your  progress. 

It  was  constant  study  that  made  Dana  and  Greeley 
the  great  journalists  that  they  were.  Neither  of  them 
wasted  a  minute.  If  at  the  close  of  the  day's  work 
Dana's  final  proof  sheet  was  promised  to  him  in  seven 
minutes  he  withdrew  from  the  little  revolving  book-rack 
on  his  desk  a  copy  of  the  Greek  Testament  and  utilized 


62         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

the  seven  minutes  by  reading  it.  Never  was  a  question 
of  fact  raised  but  he  joined  in  the  search  for  the  truth 
of  it  in  the  most  enthusiastic  manner.  His  zeal  and  his 
interest  were  a  source  of  inspiration  to  the  staff.  With 
him  study  was  the  key  to  every  problem. 

When  in  1880  he  asked  me  to  be  the  managing  editor 
of  the  Sun,  the  answer  was : 

"Mr.  Dana,  I  do  not  know  enough  to  be  your  man- 
aging editor." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  was  his  question. 

"I  mean  that  the  managing  editor  of  your  newspaper 
should  have  wide,  extensive,  general  information.  I 
know  very  little  about  politics,  or  finance,  or  art,  for 
instance.  A  managing  editor  should  have  expert  knowl- 
edge of  them." 

"What  is  the  objection  to  your  devoting  a  little  time 
each  day  to  the  study  of  these  things  in  which  you  feel 
yourself  deficient,"  was  Mr.  Dana's  calm  reply.  "I  did 
not  know  so  much  about  them  myself,  when  I  first  came 
to  the  city  as  I  do  to-day." 

I  now  appreciate  that  whatever  progress  I  afterward 
made  in  the  business  came  largely  from  this  suggestion ; 
and  I  feel  like  passing  it  along  to  the  young  man  who 
aspires  to  newspaper  honors.  How  true  it  is  that  to 
achieve  you  must  study  to  the  limit  of  your  resources ; 
you  must  think  to  the  limit  of  your  intelligence;  you 
must  strive  to  the  limit  of  your  endurance — then  you 
have  done  your  best  and  that  marks  the  measure  of 
your  success. 

Study — persistent,  laborious,  intelligent  study — is 
the  key  to  success  in  writing.  Occasionally  a  genius 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  63 

startles  the  public  with  a  spontaneous  facility  for  the 
use  of  words  and  sentences,  but  the  other  nine  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  ninety  nine  of  us  newspaper  plodders 
must  achieve  our  purposes  by  the  hardest  kind  of  hard 
work.  We  must  study  the  derivation  of  words,  the 
varied  uses  of  words.  And  if  we  are  to  keep  up  with 
these  snappy  times  we  must  hunt  for  strong  masculine 
nouns,  and  rapid-fire  verbs,  and  staccato  adjectives, 
and  sudden  adverbs.  Almost  always  we  can  find  a 
better  word  than  the  one  that  first  suggests  itself,  if 
we  hunt  for  it.  Almost  always  we  may  shorten  and 
simplify  a  sentence  if  we  study  it. 

The  word  spoken  may  be  forgotten.  The  word  writ- 
ten stands  for  all  time.  The  orator  may  move  his 
hearers  by  eloquence,  by  gesture,  by  facial  expression, 
by  the  tricks  of  public  speaking,  even  though  his  actual 
words  be  feeble  or  not  well  chosen,  or  his  conclusions  be 
not  convincing.  His  words  may  be  forgotten — certainly 
will  not  be  remembered  unless  preserved — but  they  have 
been  reinforced  by  his  arts  of  eloquence,  maybe  by  his 
audacity  of  speech,  by  his  personality,  and  the  net  re- 
sult is  favorable.  The  orator's  bluff  may  at  times  serve 
him  well,  but  the  words  of  the  writer  must  stand  on 
their  own  merit  for  all  time.  Type  inspires  little  emo- 
tion. There  are  few  typographical  tricks  that  cause 
heart-flutter  or  mental  spasm.  Just  plain  words  alone 
— words,  words,  words,  nearly  every  one  of  which  is 
already  familiar  to  the  reader,  must  make  the  writer's 
success  or  failure.  How  important  that  every  word  be 
studied. 

The  young  journalist  cannot  be  urged  too  strongly 


64         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

to  study  the  use  of  words.  Every  word  in  the  language 
has  its  correct  use ;  a  vast  number  are  used  incorrectly. 
You  will  find  it  a  most  interesting  study.  If  you  doubt 
its  interest,  be  so  good  as  to  open  your  dictionary  to 
any  haphazard  page  and  read  intently  for  fifteen  min- 
utes. You  will  find  words  the  existence  of  which  you 
had  not  known,  the  meanings  of  which  you  had  not  un- 
derstood. Observe  the  derivation  and  the  primary 
meaning  of  the  word  and  you  cannot  miss  the  proper 
use.  You  cannot  put  time  to  better  purpose,  if  you 
seek  for  excellence  in  English  composition,  than  by 
studying  the  English  dictionary  a  few  minutes  every 
day. 

When  a  writer  is  sure  of  his  information,  is  sincere 
in  his  attitude,  and  is  eager  and  enthusiastic  for  its 
presentation,  the  words  and  the  sentences  usually  come 
to  him  with  ease.  It  is  when  he  is  shaky  over  his  facts, 
or  insincere,  or  dishonest,  that  his  words  become  feeble, 
and  lack  convincing  quality,  do  not  ring  true.  It  is 
curious  how  often  dishonest  journalism  convicts  itself 
through  timidity  of  diction. 

The  English  language  is  reaching  afar.  Those  there 
are  who  predict  that  eventually  it  will  be  spoken  every- 
where. Already  it  is  the  language  of  more  than  two 
hundred  million  persons.  It  will  carry  the  tourist  all 
over  the  globe  by  the  established  routes  of  travel, — 
through  the  streets  of  Japan,  and  the  bazars  of  India, 
and  the  South  Sea  islands  of  the  Pacific.  Tennyson 
said  to  Sir  Edwin  Arnold :  "It  is  bad  for  us  that  Eng- 
lish will  always  be  a  spoken  speech,  since  that  means 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  65 

that  it  will  always  be  changing  and  so  the  time  will  come 
when  you  and  I  will  be  as  hard  to  read  as  Chaucer  is 
to-day." 

Indeed,  the  English  language  is  changing  constantly. 
We  are  eliding  letters,  lopping  off  terminations,  cutting 
out  phrases  and  abolishing  circumlocution.  It  is  not  so 
old  a  language  as  a  score  of  others  and  every  oppor- 
tunity for  improvement  exists.  It  is,  indeed,  "an  im- 
provable language." 

Compare,  if  you  please,  any  modern  narrative  with 
the  beginning  of  Chaucer's  "The  Tale  of  Melibeus": 

A  young  man  called  Melibeus,  mighty  and  riche,  begat 
upon  his  wif,  that  called  was  Prudens,  a  doughter  which 
that  called  was  Sophie.  Upon  a  day  byfel,  that  for  his 
disport  he  is  went  into  the  fields  him  to  play.  His  wif  and 
his  doughter  eek  hath  he  laft  in-with  his  hous,  of  which  the 
dores  were  fast  shut.  Thre  of  his  olde  foos  have  it  espyed, 
and  setten  laddres  to  the  walles  of  his  hous,  and  by  the 
wyndowes  be  entred,  and  beetyn  his  wyf,  and  woundid  his 
doughter  with  fyve  mortal  woundes  in  fyve  sondry  places, 
that  is  to  sayn,  in  her  feet,  in  her  hondes,  in  her  eeres,  in 
her  nose,  and  in  her  mouth;  and  lafte  her  for  deed,  and 
went  away. 

Or  imagine  if  you  can  to  what  small  space  a  modern 
newspaper  copy  reader  would  reduce  the  following  bit 
of  Washington  Irving  prose  that  was  printed  in  school 
readers  sixty  years  ago  as  an  example  of  graceful  writ- 
ing and  felicity  of  expression: 

In  one  of  those  somber  and  rather  melancholy  days  in 
the  latter  part  of  autumn  when  the  shadows  of  morning 
and  evening  almost  mingle  together  and  throw  a  gloom  over 


66         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

the  decline  of  the  year  I  passed  several  hours  rambling 
around  Westminster  Abbey.  There  was  something  conge- 
nial to  the  season  in  the  mournful  magnificence  of  the  old 
pile ;  and,  as  I  passed  its  threshhold,  it  seemed  like  stepping 
back  into  the  regions  of  antiquity  and  losing  myself  among 
the  shades  of  former  ages. 

Usage  is  amplifying  the  service  of  many  words  whose 
primary  meaning  is  obvious  from  their  Latin  deriva- 
tion. Dexter  is  the  Latin  word  meaning  the  right  hand, 
and  strictly  speaking  "dextrous  movements"  should 
mean  right  hand  movements.  But  usage  has  brought 
dexterity  to  mean  readiness,  skill,  adroitness,  aptitude, 
both  physical  or  mental.  Macaulay  uses  it  constantly 
in  all  of  these  meanings.  "Manufacture"  is  easily  traced 
to  the  Latin  origin  manus,  the  hand,  and  facio,  to  make 
— to  make  by  hand.  But  we  have  come  to  use  "manu- 
facture" for  the  making  of  anything,  by  machinery,  or 
chemical  processes,  or  in  any  way  other  than  with  the 
hand.  And  who  shall  say  that  these  usages,  these 
enlargements  of  the  meaning  of  dexterity  and  manu- 
facture, have  not  improved  the  English  language? 

More  than  ever  before  is  there  present-day  need  for 
the  use  of  plain,  understandable  English.  We  live  in  a 
money-making  age — an  age  of  industrial  development, 
in  which  machines  are  doing  the  work  that  brains  used 
to  do,  in  which  vocational  and  technical  education  are 
demanded  of  our  schools  and  colleges,  and  in  which  the 
cry  for  technical  literature  is  insistent.  Experts  only 
understand  the  technical  words  and  the  language  of 
their  specialty,  hence  the  cry  for  writers  who  can  trans- 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  67 

late  technical  language  into  plain  English  that  any 
reader  may  understand.  Dean  West,  of  Princeton,  has 
deplored  the  inability  of  many  professors  to  teach 
orally  or  in  writing  in  any  other  language  than  the 
dialect  of  their  specialties.  Lacking  in  literary  train- 
ing they  are  unable  clearly  to  say  what  they  think. 

Some  one  asked  William  T.  Stead,  the  English  jour- 
nalist, whether  he  would  have  an  astronomer  or  a  news- 
paper writer  prepare  an  article  on  sun  spots,  and 
Stead's  instant  reply  was  that  the  astronomer  would 
write  it  for  astronomers  in  language  that  no  one  else 
would  understand,  but  the  reporter  would  tap  the  brain 
of  the  specialist  and  so  serve  out  his  knowledge  that  the 
ordinary  reader  would  understand. 

All  the  tendency  of  present-day  writing  is  to  trans- 
late technical  language,  scientific  terms,  professional 
formula,  and  medical  terms  into  plain  common  sense 
English.  Let  the  good  work  go  on ! 

And  let  not  the  young  man  contemplating  a  journal- 
istic career  be  persuaded  that  newspaper  English  is 
not  good  English.  The  men  who  wrote  for  the  news- 
papers of  the  Spanish- American  War,  of  the  great 
political  movements  of  Europe  of  later  years,  of  our 
great  industrial  developments,  and  of  the  World  War 
in  particular,  are  the  very  men  who  have  rewritten 
these  things  into  history  for  magazines  and  for  book 
publishers.  When  they  wrote  this  information  for  the 
newspapers,  distinguished  college  professors  and  learned 
critics  called  it  "journalese";  when  it  appears  in  the 
reviews  and  in  books  they  speak  of  it  as  "literature." 


68         THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

In  praise  of  newspaper  writing  as  good  training  for 
writers,  Anatole  France  has  this  to  say : 

It  is  an  inveterate  prejudice  to  believe  that  one  spoils  his 
pen  in  writing  for  the  newspapers.  On  the  contrary  one 
gains  in  that  way  suppleness  as  also  ease  and  that  readiness 
without  which  the  phrase  does  not  move  gracefully  and 
never  smiles.  It  is  a  good  school  say  what  one  will. 

Some  of  the  modern  English  seems  very  practical  and 
easy  to  understand.  The  use  of  the  words  "scrapped" 
and  "junked"  as  verbs  seems  to  have  been  put  perma- 
nently into  the  language  by  the  Washington  Disarma- 
ment Conference.  A  well  known  journal  says,  "The 
newspapers  were  kidding  him,"  and  very  likely  we  will 
have  to  accept  "kid"  as  a  verb.  The  entire  Navy  now 
says  of  a  man  who  goes  from  one  place  to  another  that 
he  "shoves  off."  It  is  proper  to  say  of  a  dissatisfied 
man  that  he  is  "peeved,"  according  to  the  dictionaries, 
but  its  use  is  new.  Food  is  now  known  as  "eats"  and  the 
pleasures  of  the  pipe  or  cigar  are  called  "smokes."  A 
recent  head-line  said,  "Flivvers  furnish  booze  to 
soldiers."  Another  newspaper  transforms  "hokus"  into 
a  verb:  "Complained  that  she  hokused  him,"  while 
the  scholarly  New  Republic  says  of  some  occupation  of 
youngsters  that  "it  gives  them  no  time  to  go  on  the 
loose." 

A  new  invention  brings  out  a  new  crop  of  words.  We 
have  "automobile,"  "garage,"  "speedometer,"  "lim- 
ousine," "taxi,"  "taximeter,"  "motorboat,"  "motor- 
cycle," "chauffeur,"  all  useful  and  necessary  additions 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  69 

to  our  elastic  language.  The  airplane  has  brought  as 
many  more.  Our  slang  goes  on  apace. 

Make  your  sheet  easy  to  read,  as  well  as  easy  to  un- 
derstand. The  other  day  a  morning  paper  in  a  London 
cable  said,  "Wheat  sold  at  60  shillings  a  quarter  in  the 
corn  market  to-day."  That  sentence  gave  the  mind  of 
the  reader  a  jolt  and  a  pause,  in  the  attempt  to  trans- 
late shillings  and  quarters  into  cents  and  bushels.  Few 
American  readers  are  familiar  with  foreign  languages, 
hence  all  words,  as  well  as  quotations,  in  the  French, 
German,  or  other  tongues,  should  be  made  into  English. 
Pounds,  marks,  and  francs  should  be  computed  into  dol- 
lars and  cents,  kilometers  into  miles.  And  who  knows 
where  in  New  York  State  the  Thirty-fifth  Congress 
District  is?  Why  not  call  it  the  Syracuse  district? 
Or  who  can  tell  where  in  New  York  City  the  Sixteenth 
Precinct  police  station  may  be?  Why  not  identify  it 
as  the  Mercer  Street  station? 

On  the  first  Sunday  of  President  Wilson's  stay  in 
Paris  he  went  to  church  and  the  Associated  Press  re- 
port said  the  clergyman  preached  from  Isaiah  ix.  9. 
Naturally  the  words  of  the  text  were  not  transmitted 
at  full  cable  rates;  and  naturally,  too,  a  certain  curi- 
osity was  felt  as  to  what  they  were.  Yet  of  six  New 
York  daily  newspapers  examined,  one  only  had  taken 
the  pains  to  dig  out  the  text  and  print  it.  That  sheet 
certainly  served  its  readers  better  than  did  the  others. 

A  little  discreet  exuberance  of  expression  may  be 
tolerated  in  newspaper  writing.  Sensational  news*- 
papers  do  no  harm  as  long  as  they  stick  to  the  truth. 


70         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

You  may  print  your  editions  in  red  ink,  with  job  type, 
with  headlines  a  foot  high  if  you  like,  without  other 
offenses  than  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  your  an- 
nouncement. Typographical  eccentricity  merely  at- 
tracts attention.  It  serves  the  same  purpose  as  does 
the  orator's  violent  gesture  or  the  messenger's  breath- 
less announcement.  It  excites  curiosity,  arouses  in- 
terest. 

Now,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  harmless  exaggeration. 
It  enters  largely  into  our  private  life.  Our  dreams  of 
wealth,  of  success,  of  happiness  are  usually  far  be- 
yond the  fulfillment.  We  exaggerate  our  prospects, 
ambitions  and  promises  to  ourselves.  But  this  form  of 
exaggeration  is  most  beneficial  for  it  is  a  spur  to  am- 
'bition  and  a  prod  to  effort. 

The  editor  is  tempted  to  exaggeration  because  a 
little  exaggeration  makes  it  a  little  more  interesting. 
He  sees  that  the  exaggerated  novel  sells  while  the  novel 
true  to  life  is  unnoticed ;  that  the  actor  who  gesticulates 
and  shouts  has  the  loudest  applause;  that  the  painter 
who  outdoes  nature  outsells  the  artist  who  is  true  to 
fact.  Indeed,  some  philosopher  has  said  that  an  easy 
road  to  success  lies  through  exaggeration.  The  man 
who  exaggerates  his  own  importance  attracts  more  at- 
tention than  the  modest  man.  The  merchant  who  ex- 
aggerates his  wares  sells  more  than  the  man  who  does 
not.  Sensational  clergymen  fill  churches  while  prosy 
ones  preach  to  empty  benches.  It  was  Sidney  Smith 
who  remarked:  "It  is  not  the  first  man  who  says  a 
thing  who  deserves  credit  for  it,  but  he  who  says  it  so 


NEWSPAPER    COMPOSITION  71 

long  and  so  loud  that  at  last  he  persuades  the  world 
that  it  is  true."  Macaulay  remarked:  "The  best  por- 
traits are  perhaps  those  in  which  there  is  a  slight  mix- 
ture of  caricature,  and  we  are  not  certain  that  the  best 
histories  are  not  those  in  which  a  little  of  exaggeration, 
of  fictitious  narrative,  is  judiciously  employed." 

But  the  editor  must  use  exaggeration  with  great  dis- 
cretion, must  not  pervert  the  truth.  Gross  exaggera- 
tion becomes  downright  lying. 

Man's  language  cunningly  adapts  itself  to  man's 
thoughts.  Sixty  years  ago  writers  were  under  the  in- 
fluence of  what  may  be  described  as  a  literary  age — 
that  so-called  golden  age  of  the  intellect  that  marked 
the  early  years  of  Victoria's  reign.  It  was  a  period 
of  intellectual  uplift.  People  were  thinking  of  litera- 
ture and  talking  of  literature.  Men  hurried  through 
their  suppers  to  read  to  the  family  circle  the  stories  of 
Dickens  and  Hawthorne  and  Walter  Scott.  The  liter- 
ary lecture  was  popular  and  people  went  to  church 
for  the  literary  pleasure  the  sermon  afforded.  The 
newspaper  editors  were  writing  literature  and  were 
urging  their  staffs  to  renewed  literary  effort.  The  mag- 
azines were  conspicuous  for  literary  excellence.  The 
theaters  were  instructive.  The  writers  of  poetry  and 
prose  sought  a  nicety  of  literary  expression,  a  dainti- 
ness of  diction,  a  legato  of  language.  Courses  of  study 
favored  instruction  in  literature  and  literary  topics,  in 
language  and  history,  in  science  and  philosophy. 

And  now,  if  you  please,  mark  the  contrast.  We  are 
living  in  a  business  age.  War  has  blunted  our  sensibili- 


72         THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

ties,  has  made  us  callous,  has  coarsened  civilization.  We 
care  little  for  so-called  polite  literature.  We  want  the 
rugged  kind.  The  family  circle  does  not  meet  for 
literary  exercises.  We  are  thinking  of  commercialism, 
of  money  making,  of  gigantic  locomotives,  of  immense 
bridges  and  tunnels,  of  aqueducts  a  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  long,  of  skyscraping  buildings,  flying  machines, 
telephones,  typewriting  machines,  typesetting  machines, 
electric  devices.  We  are  thinking  of  them  until  we 
are  thinking  of  little  else. 

It  is  the  age  of  the  machine.  Mechanical  processes 
are  doing  the  work  that  formerly  demanded  mental 
skill.  The  village  blacksmith  no  longer  commands  ad- 
miration by  his  picturesque  and  intelligent  forging  of 
the  nail  and  shoe — he  buys  them  ready  made  by  ma- 
chinery. The  learned  shoemaker  no  longer  artfully 
fashions  my  lady's  dainty  slipper — the  shoe  machine 
punches  it  out.  We  bawl  letters  and  dinner  invitations 
through  that  mechanical  device,  the  telephone,  instead 
of  writing  them  in  the  old  fashioned  courtly  way.  Time 
was  when  men  put  brains  into  what  they  did  with  their 
hands;  but  to-day,  machines  rather  than  brains  are 
doing  the  work  of  the  world. 

Our  language  and  our  literature  cannot  escape  the 
influence.  Instead  of  the  sweetly  gliding  words  and 
sentences  of  the  men  who  translated  the  Bible,  the  de- 
liberation of  Thackeray,  the  ornate  embellishments  of 
Washington  Irving — instead  of  the  soft  speaking 
poetry  of  1850  and  the  flossy  velvet  prose  of  1860  our 
present-day  writers  are  using  whirlwind  sentences  and 


NEWSPAPER   COMPOSITION  73 

words  in  staccato  that  bite  and  scratch  and  explode. 
We  are  changing  our  diction  from  the  niceties  of 
literary  expression  to  a  blunter  and  a  coarser  form 
of  expression. 

There  can  be  no  harm  in  it,  however.  The  net  re- 
sult is  to  improve  the  language.  It  is  taking  on  the 
additional  strength  and  agility  and  brevity  that  come 
of  our  industrial  activity.  The  very  magnitude  of  our 
undertakings,  the  very  dimensions  of  our  ambitions  in- 
spire to  greatness  of  thought  and  forcefulness  of  speech. 
The  red  blood  of  war  is  nourishing  the  vitals  of  our 
language. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FASCINATION  OF  WRITING  FOR  THE 
EDITORIAL  PAGE 

OUE  young  man  who  has  just  entered  journalism 
begins  soon  to  look  longingly  toward  the  editorial  page. 
He  wants  to  become  an  editorial  writer.  He  longs  to 
get  into  the  world's  controversies,  to  thump  Presidents, 
to  crush  cabinets,  to  pulverize  politicians,  to  rebuke 
rulers,  to  sandbag  ignorance,  sin  and  superstition  when- 
ever they  raise  their  swollen  heads.  His  immature  no- 
tion of  editorial  writing  is  to  smash  into  somebody  or 
something.  He  has  a  lot  to  learn. 

The  editorial  page  is  the  most  important  part  of  the 
newspaper.  It  gives  the  sheet  its  greatest  distinction, 
its  widest  influence,  its  chief  reputation — gives  the 
editor  his  proudest  satisfaction.  It  is  here  that  the 
editor  shows  to  the  public  the  true  measure  of  his 
ability  and  inspires  the  confidence  and  the  respect  of 
his  community,  if  at  all. 

The  editorial  article  is  a  little  essay  on  a  current 
topic.  You  may  glorify  the  topic  by  giving  it  con- 
spicuous importance  in  the  strongest  language  at  com- 
mand, or  you  may  minimize  it  by  inane  flabby  comments 

on  its  weakest  features  .and  by  ignoring  its  essentials. 

74 


THE   EDITORIAL   PAGE  75 

You  may  give  it  fine  literary  flavor,  or  you  may  drool 
over  it.  The  tricks  of  the  trade  come  with  practice. 

Editorial  writing  is  fascinating.  To  wield  influence 
always  gives  satisfaction.  For  centuries  it  has  been 
the  ambition  of  orators  and  writers  to  influence  men's 
thoughts,  to  direct  men's  actions. 

Creative  work  is  perhaps  the  most  enjoyable  of  all 
work.  In  the  newspaper  it  has  come  to  be  the  most 
important.  An  original  editorial  article  summons  all 
the  creative  ability  of  the  writer.  It  is  the  product 
of  his  years  of  study  and  experience.  The  news  de- 
partment may  be  conducted  without  an  access  of  book 
learning,  for  news  getting  has  become  so  systematized 
and  its  principles  so  easy  to  learn  that  it  is  difficult  to 
invent  a  new  way  of  treating  the  news.  But  before  you 
have  been  an  editorial  writer  many  months  you  will 
have  called  into  precious  use  all  of  your  reasoning  pow- 
ers, all  of  your  philosophy,  all  of  the  principles  of  life 
and  of  conduct  you  may  have  observed. , 

These  modern  days  are  big  with  new  discoveries  and 
they  are  first  made  public  through  the  newspapers. 
They  give  glorious  opportunity  for  special  study,  for 
mastery  of  the  subject;  not  necessarily  a  profound 
finality  of  knowledge  of  it,  but  a  knowledge  comprehen- 
sive enough  to  write  about  it,  a  knowledge  fascinat- 
ing in  itself  as  a  study — enough  to  give  its  possessor 
advantage  in  social  conversation  and  receptiveness  of 
mind  for  any  new  development  of  the  subject. 

And  it  astonishes  to  discover  what  a  lot  of  informa- 
tion may  be  had  from  just  a  few  hours  of  acute  mental 


76         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

concentration  on  a  given  subject.  In  these  modern 
times  the  literature,  even  the  textbooks  of  everything 
new,  are  quickly  available.  The  book  publishers  never 
were  so  alert  or  so  spry  to  furnish  technical  knowledge. 
Such  facilities  for  practical  study  never  were  known. 
Mere  mention  to  the  modern  librarian  of  the  nature  of 
the  information  sought  brings  you  volumes  on  the  sub- 
ject in  a  twinkling. 

In  large  cities  where  the  newspapers  are  opulent  and 
large  staffs  are  employed,  the  editorial  writer  is  ex- 
pected to  produce  one  article  only  each  day.  If  it 
be  for  a  morning  sheet  he  has  a  few  hours  in  which 
to  prepare  it;  if  it  be  for  an  evening  edition  it  must 
be  written  quickly.  But  the  number  of  opulent  news- 
papers is  few  in  comparison  with  the  number  not  able 
to  have  la-rge  staffs.  In  almost  all  American  daily 
newspapers  the  editorial  writer  is  expected  to  furnish 
several  articles  every  day.  Always  he  is  hurried.  He 
has  little  time  for  study  or  for  proper  thought.  His 
task  tempts  to  a  condition  of  routine  thought ;  tempts 
to  the  utterance  of  the  obvious,  to  imitation  and  the 
reproduction  of  the  thoughts  of  others.  Hurried  writ- 
ing usually  is  slovenly  writing  and  that  is  a  reason  why 
nine-tenths  of  our  editorial  writing  is  mediocre. 

The  editorial  writer  should  devote  much  time  to 
study.  Not  in  any  other  profession  is  there  greater 
necessity  for  study,  greater  use  for  the  knowledge  that 
is  power.  The  editor  whose  cranium  is  crammed  with 
facts  has  great  advantage  over  the  editor  whose  cranium 
is  empty,  for  the  mind,  especially  the  editorial  mind, 


THE   EDITORIAL   PAGE  77 

feeds  on  facts.  The  editor  must  furnish  information 
and  comment  on  a  multitude  of  facts  widely  diverse  in 
themselves,  topics  treating  of  every  phase  of  human 
life,  every  shade  of  animate  or  inanimate  condition.  He 
must  study  the  topic  enough  to  write  on  it  skillfully. 
He  must  convince  the  reader  of  his  mastery  of  the  sub- 
ject. Bulwer  Lytton's  reiteration  that  "Knowledge  is 
power"  finds  constant  verification  in  newspaper  editing. 

Almost  all  newspaper  editorial  articles,  critiques  of 
the  drama  or  of  music,  and  all  news  articles  are  written 
at  a  single  sitting  and  under  the  constant  admonition 
to  "hurry  up"  both  mind  and  movement.  The  writer 
must  acquire  the  art  of  instant  concentration  of 
thought  on  the  one  subject,  of  instantly  recalling  pre- 
cedents and  of  quickly  foreseeing  results.  This  ever- 
lasting hurry  is  a  serious  drawback  to  good  newspaper 
making;  but  it  is  a  powerful  incentive,  also,  to  quick 
thinking.  What  has  been  said  of  the  politician,  that 
often  he  must  act  before  he  has  read  or  thought,  is 
singularly  true  of  the  editor.  The  editorial  writer 
must  understand  the  political  and  commercial  and  so- 
cial questions  of  the  hour  and  must  be  prepared  to  hop 
right  into  a  discussion  of  them  at  a  moment's  notice. 
He  must  train  himself  to  use  quick  judgment  and  to 
arrive  at  quick  conclusions. 

News  intelligence  may  be  so  presented  that  it  will 
have  quick  influence  on  the  reader.  Often  it  may  pro- 
duce flash  conclusions  that  may  be  reversed  by  next 
day's  news.  Many  readers  glance  at  headlines  and 
quickly  scan  news  columns  and  are  influenced  by  what 


78          THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

they  see  without  giving  it  a  scrap  of  intellectual  re- 
flection. 

But  the  editorial  writer  must  have  real  merit  to  in- 
fluence other  men.  He  must  possess  the  art  of  com- 
position, of  ready  speech,  of  carrying  conviction.  He 
not  only  thinks  for  his  reader,  but  he  seeks  to  persuade 
the  reader  to  his  way  of  thinking.  But  always  the 
editorial  article  should  be  a  help  to  the  reader,  should 
inform,  interest,  explain,  elucidate  as  well  as  influence. 

The  modern  headline  artist  has  solved  the  problem 
of  attracting  the  reader's  attention.  The  editorial 
writer  has  not  the  advantage  of  typographical  eccen- 
tricity to  help  him;  he  must  attract  and  convince  by 
what  he  says. 

It  is  difficult  to  indicate,  even  much  less  to  advise  the 
student  of  journalism,  how  to  study  for  editorial  writ- 
ing— so  vast  is  the  field  of  desirable  knowledge.  But 
first  of  all  he  must  read  the  newspapers  and  the  period- 
ical publications,  for  he  must  understand  the  topics 
that  are  engaging  public  thought.  The  editor  must 
absorb  and  remember  a  mass  of  current  facts  that  will 
not  be  recorded  in  textbooks  and  histories  for  months 
or  years  to  come  if  indeed  they  ever  are  recorded.  The 
newspapers  are  the  first  to  record  great  events,  the 
weekly  press  is  next,  and  the  magazines  then  follow. 
Histories  and  textbooks  come  along  later.  No  other 
way  of  keeping  up  with  public  events  has  been  discov- 
ered. The  process  is  easy  and  interesting,  however. 

There  should  be  thoughtful  study  of  the  great  prin- 
ciples that  govern  human  conduct.  All  history  is  use- 


THE   EDITORIAL   PAGE  79 

ful.  And  obviously  the  editor  cannot  know  too  much 
of  the  fundamentals  of  government,  of  law,  diplomacy, 
politics,  and  political  causes,  of  finance,  taxation, 
philanthropy,  the  relations  of  labor  and  capital  and  so 
on — the  list  is  endless.  The  schools  of  journalism  give 
much  attention  to  these  essentials.  Their  courses  are 
prepared  with  great  wisdom  for  the  attainment  of  prac- 
tical knowledge.  Young  men  who  would  be  journalists 
will  profit  greatly  by  study  in  these  schools. 

In  almost  all  of  the  large  newspaper  offices  there  is 
a  daily  editorial  council  composed  of  the  editorial  writ- 
ers, the  managing  editor,  the  city  editor,  the  foreign 
editor,  and  sometimes  the  Sunday  editor,  and  the  special 
writers.  This  council  meets  at  the  beginning  of  the 
newspaper  day.  The  events  of  the  moment  have  in- 
formal discussion  and  a  general  conclusion  is  indicated 
by  the  editor  as  to  what  must  be  the  editorial  attitude 
toward  them.  Thus  the  editorial  policy  of  the  sheet 
is  understood  by  all.  The  editor  assigns  to  the  writers 
their  topics  for  discussion. 

The  editor  indicates  the  paper's  policy  toward  all 
public  questions  and  the  editorial  page  is  just  what  he 
makes  it.  The  newspaper  does  not  rise  above  its  editor. 
His  assistants  write  as  he  directs  and  wishes,  without 
question,  regardless  of  their  personal  convictions  as  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  policy  or  their  personal  attitude  to- 
ward it.  But  an  assistant  is  not  often  asked  to  write 
contrary  to  his  convictions. 

The  editor  usually  revises  all  editorial  page  articles 
and  his  staff  does  not  return  for  night  work  as  was 


80          THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

the  practice  of  morning  newspaper  editorial  writers 
fifty  years  ago.  One  editorial  writer  remains  to  com- 
ment briefly  on  any  extraordinary  news  that  may  de- 
velop. This  change  in  general  newspaper  practice  was 
inspired  by  the  late  Charles  A.  Dana  who  urged  that 
all  editorial  comment  should  be  prepared  with  great  de- 
liberation and  thoughtfulness,  that  hastily  written  ar- 
ticles were  perfunctory  or  were  expression  of  the  ob- 
vious. He  wanted  not  the  editorial  expression  written 
at  midnight  for  publication  at  two  A.  M.  and  the  other 
editors  came  to  his  way  of  thinking  and  doing. 

Little  change  has  been  made  in  the  appearance  of  the 
editorial  page  in  the  last  fifty  years.  The  make-up 
remains  about  the  same,  the  most  important  article  or 
"the  leader"  occupying  first  place,  the  other  articles 
tapering  off  in  the  order  of  their  supposed  goodness  or 
importance.  Few  new  features  are  seen.  The  column 
or  two  of  letters  to  the  editor  appear  with  the  same 
regularity  and  in  the  same  place  as  they  did  fifty  years 
ago,  written,  as  then,  for  the  most  part  by  persons  who 
delight  to  see  their  names  in  print,  who  like  to  find 
fault  or  criticize,  who  seek  to  exploit  a  hobby  or  a 
precious  project  for  reforming  something.  Neverthe- 
less, many  letters  to  the  editor  are  of  great  value,  in- 
formative, suggestive,  original.  Some  of  the  newspaper 
controversies  in  which  the  public  takes  part  are  amusing 
and  instructive.  Many  of  the  letters  to  the  editor  are 
written  by  the  editor  himself — an  easy,  convenient  de- 
vice for  avoiding  personal  responsibility  for  the  senti- 
ment exploited. 


THE   EDITORIAL   PAGE  81 

The  increase  in  the  size  of  newspapers  has  been  that 
more  pages  of  news  and  department  features  may  be 
added.  The  editorial  page  has  remained  unchanged. 
Indeed,  instead  of  additional  editorial  articles  follow- 
ing increase  of  the  sheet's  size  the  tendency  has  been 
to  print  less  comment.  We  have  quadrupled  the  volume 
of  space  devoted  to  general  news,  to  sports,  to  financial 
reports,  but  have  actually  lessened  the  number  of  col- 
umns carrying  editorial  articles. 

But  we  note  decided  change  in  the  editorial  articles 
themselves,  in  the  choice  of  topics  for  comment,  in  the 
character,  the  quality,  the  spirit  of  discussion,  in  the 
diction.  The  old  time  editorial  page  was  devoted  al- 
most entirely  to  politics.  It  was  the  expression  of  a 
strongly  partisan  editor  and  was  surcharged  with  vitu- 
peration and  abuse  of  his  personal  and  political  enemies 
and  of  the  opposition  candidates.  "You  lie,  you  vil- 
lain; and  you  know  you  lie"  was  one  of  the  gentler 
forms  of  argument  in  common  use.  The  ability  of  the 
enemy  candidate  and  the  quality  of  his  political  prin- 
ciples were  treated  with  unfairness  and  contempt.  This 
unfairness  flavored  news  reports  as  well.  I  distinctly 
remember  a  meeting  of  three  thousand  howling,  shout- 
ing, partisan  lunatics  alive  with  vim  and  bursting  with 
enthusiasm  all  honestly  interested  in  their  cause;  and 
they  were  described  next  morning  by  an  opposition 
newspaper  as  a  handful  of  silent,  melancholy,  dejected, 
drooling  curiosity  seekers  and  vagrants  who  had 
crawled  into  the  hall  to  keep  warm. 

But  the  modern  newspaper  has  ceased  to  be  a  rigid 


82         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

partisan  organ.  It  is  much  more  moderate  of  discus- 
sion. There  is  less  acrimonious  attack  on  public  men, 
less  political  misrepresentation,  less  unfairness  toward 
any  opponent.  Indeed,  it  is  common  enough  nowadays 
for  an  editor  to  make  a  fair  and  honest  presentation  of 
the  opposition  argument  before  undertaking  to'  de- 
molish it.  It  always  has  been  a  question  whether  ex- 
cessive vituperation  and  venomous  attack  have  as  much 
influence  as  temperate  reasoning  and  the  moderate  ex- 
pression of  righteous  conclusions.  It  is  easy  to  call 
names — to  call  a  man  a  thief  or  a  liar — and  the  per- 
sonal journalism  of  fifty  years  ago  rang  with  such 
language.  The  editorial  writing  of  to-day  is  modera- 
tion itself  compared  with  the  old  time  kind. 

Even  more  conspicuous  is  the  change  in  the  choice  of 
topics  selected  for  editorial  discussion.  Politics  domi- 
nated four-fifths  of  the  old  time  page,  day  after  day. 
The  stirring  events  preceding  and  succeeding  the  Civil 
War  aroused  great  interest  in  political  principles  and 
in  political  leadership.  It  was  a  continuous  perform- 
ance of  political  strife  involving  the  issues  of  seces- 
sion, the  extension  of  slavery  to  the  new  states,  the 
conduct  of  the  war,  and  the  multitude  of  complications 
and  consequences  attending  reconstruction.  The  period 
between  1850  and  1870  was  perhaps  the  most  important 
politically  in  American  history  after  the  Revolution. 
The  American  editor  was  in  his  glory. 

Just  at  that  time  the  Victorian  era  of  literature  was 
at  full  growth.  It  was  a  literary  age.  We  are  living 
just  now  in  a  commercial  age  and  commercialism  en- 


THE  EDITORIAL  PAGE  83 

grosses  public  attention.  It  is  changing  our  processes 
of  thinking,  changing  our  choice  of  editorial  topics 
from  political  and  literary  topics  to  commercial  topics, 
changing  our  diction  from  the  smoothly  flowing  ornate 
sentences  of  the  Victorian  era  to  a  blunter,  more  robust 
form  of  expression  that  tells  what  it  wants  to  say  in 
a  staccato  of  fewest,  shortest  words. 

Nevertheless,  in  the  plain  robust  writing  of  the  day 
we  miss  much  of  the  pleasure  of  reading.  In  the  ever- 
lasting hunt  for  fact,  for  practical  information,  there  is 
less  food  for  the  imagination,  less  suggestion  on  which 
we  may  enlarge  the  imagination.  Our  thoughts  are  di- 
rected in  mathematical  lines,  in  practical  directions. 
There  is  less  of  the  sentimental. 

Politics  we  must  have  with  us  always,  but  the  routine 
politics  of  ordinary  times  do  not  especially  interest 
the  public.  It  is  in  the  few  months  of  a  presidential 
campaign  only  that  we  find  the  American  people  ap- 
proaching political  excitement.  An  Edison  test  of 
political  knowledge  would  bring  many  of  us  to  grief. 
How  many  readers  of  these  lines,  for  instance,  can  name 
the  officers  of  their  state  chosen  at  the  latest  election, 
or  can  name  the  state's  delegation  in  Congress,  or  can 
give  even  the  name  of  each  member  of  the  President's 
cabinet  and  the  post  he  occupies  ? 

Always  there  must  be  love  for  good  literature  among 
the  cultured,  but  the  mass  of  the  people  care  less  for 
literature  than  they  did  fifty  years  ago  when  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Victorian  period  was  uppermost  in  thought. 

In  the  larger  offices  there  are  from  six  to  ten  editorial 


84         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

staff  writers  who  go  to  the  editorial  rooms  daily.  The 
editor  has  at  command  always  a  number  of  editorial 
writers  who  contribute  in  the  line  of  their  specialties — 
the  writer  on  medical  topics,  the  army  and  navy  experts, 
the  mechanical  engineer,  the  man  who  is  authority  on 
geographical  research,  the  expounder  of  financial  and 
commercial  topics,  and  so  on.  These  men  are  useful 
adjuncts  to  the  staff  and  they  are  in  constant  demand. 

It  is  quite  the  practice  for  editorial  writers  to  spe- 
cialize on  a  few  topics,  to  become  office  authority  on 
them,  to  be  able  to  explain,  elucidate,  construct,  with 
that  authority  and  conviction  which  expert  knowledge 
alone  can  inspire — to  assure  the  orator  confidently  that 
he  has  evaded  the  main  question,  to  riddle  the  preten- 
sion of  a  dishonest  promoter,  or  the  fabrications  of  a 
fake  explorer,  or  the  vaporings  of  a  scrubby  scientist. 
The  newspaper  has  to  disclose  the  humbug  of  the  world 
as  well  as  its  realities. 

Just  at  the  moment  (1922)  the  world  is  in  confusion 
in  consequence  of  the  great  war  and  the  expert  writer 
is  in  demand  to  solve  the  problems  growing  out  of  a 
vast  reconstruction.  The  writer  who  understands  the 
fundamentals  of  diplomacy,  or  of  trade  and  commerce, 
of  government,  of  international  law  is  welcome  in  news- 
paper offices.  Moreover,  it  is  cheering  to  recognize 
that  you  know  as  much  about  a  given  topic  as  does  any 
one  else. 

To  do  editorial  page  writing  is  the  ambition  of  nearly 
all  young  journalists.  The  office  hours  are  fixed  and 
short  when  compared  with  those  of  the  rest  of  the 


THE  EDITORIAL   PAGE  85 

staff.  The  writer  has  more  time  for  study  and  recrea- 
tion. He  has  the  satisfaction  of  doing  the  highest 
grade  of  newspaper  work.  His  responsibility  is  not  ex- 
cessive for  his  articles  are  subject  to  revision  and  to 
criticism  in  advance  of  publication.  It  is  clean,  whole- 
some intellectual  work  with  a  minimum  likelihood  for 
mistake  or  error. 

But,  in  the  larger  cities  the  editorial  writer's  work 
is  anonymous.  He  is  little  known  except  by  his  asso- 
ciates, for  the  practice  of  signing  editorial  articles  has 
not  become  common.  The  names  of  other  writers  are 
made  conspicuous.  The  man  who  describes  the  financial 
situation,  the  bridge  whist  savant,  some  of  the  book  re- 
viewers, the  playhouse  critics,  even  the  writers  of  base 
ball  games  and  prize  fights, — these  are  permitted  to 
print  their  names  at  the  head  of  their  columns.  Not  so 
the  editorial  writers  although  they  perform  the  high- 
est service  for  the  newspaper,  doing  the  work  requiring 
the  most  brains  and  the  severest  study.  If  one  of  them 
writes  an  especially  noteworthy  article  the  editor  in 
chief  quite  likely  gets  the  credit  for  it  from  the  public. 

Editorial  writing  requires  a  different  literary  touch 
from  that  of  plain  narration.  It  is  harder  to  catch 
the  knack  of  it.  The  special  article  or  news  report 
gives  information  only;  the  editorial  article  seeks  to 
persuade,  or  explain,  or  amuse.  It  must  attract  the 
reader's  attention  and  it  is  the  writer's  art  of  combin- 
ing chat,  information  and  opinion  that  accomplishes 
this  result.  Its  opportunities  for  literary  perfection 
are  limitless.  Every  possible  conceit,  or  trick  of  Ian- 


86         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

guage,  argument,  invective,  ridicule,  sarcasm,  humor, 
frolic,  pathos,  every  element  that  enters  literature,  may 
be  indulged  in,  and  the  more  striking  the  more  suc- 
cessful. 

Always  the  editorial  article  should  have  a  purpose. 
Always  exists  the  opportunity  for  nicety  of  language, 
for  that  use  of  words  to  befit  the  thought  that  con- 
stitutes good  composition.  The  editorial  writer  must 
not  forget  that  almost  all  readers  seek  to  be  amused 
rather  than  instructed. 

"I  had  not  thought  of  that  before"  is  a  common 
comment  of  the  newspaper  reader.  But  the  editor  had 
thought  of  it  because  he  had  been  taught  to  think. 
He  must  be  informed  of  the  world's  events  and  be  pre- 
pared to  tell  the  reader  exactly  what  they  mean. 

Let  it  be  impressed  on  the  young  man  in  journalism 
that  he  must  learn  to  explain  as  well  as  to  record. 
And  let  it  be  repeated  that  he  must  expect  to  think  for 
that  very  large  proportion  of  his  readers  who  from 
lack  of  time  and  from  force  of  habit  and  from  inability 
because  they  have  not  practiced  it,  are  unable,  unaided, 
to  diagnose  and  draw  conclusions  from  the  burning 
questions  of  the  day.  You  cannot  give  better  service 
than  by  explaining  the  alpha  and  the  omega  of  impor- 
tant events. 


CHAPTER  V 

WHAT  TO  PRINT— THE  PROBLEM  OF  HOW  TO 
INTEREST  AND  INFORM  THE  READER 

IN  his  meditations  over  newspaper  possibilities  the 
late  Joseph  Pulitzer  found  himself  reasoning  that  the 
existing  newspapers  were  written  above  the  understand- 
ing of  the  multitudes  and  consequently  were  not  read 
by  them.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  metropolitan 
district  population  read  no  daily  newspaper  because 
the  prices  of  the  sheets  were  high  and  because  editorial 
utterances  were  "over  their  heads,"  were  too  profound, 
too  argumentative,  too  scholarly.  Mr.  Pulitzer  pic- 
tured to  himself  a  newspaper  so  simple  of  speech  and  so 
simple  of  editorial  expression  that  this  vast  popula- 
tion could  understand  it.  He  purchased  the  New  York 
World,  reduced  its  price,  tried  to  make  it  appeal  to  the 
masses,  and  before  long  he  had  attained  a  very  great 
circulation  and  a  very  great  fortune. 

Now,  Mr.  Pulitzer  accomplished  this  result  by  con- 
templating his  newspaper  from  the  viewpoint  of  the 
reader  rather  than  from  that  of  the  editor.  He  gave 
the  people  something  they  had  wanted.  Giving  the  pub- 
lic what  it  wants  is  the  surest  way  of  securing  a  horde 
of  readers.  His  reading  matter  was  mild;  the  typog- 

87 


88          THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

raphy  spectacular.  He  attracted  attention  with  head- 
lines a  foot  high  and  with  letter  press  that  looked 
like  thickly  woven  barbed  wire  fence.  One  half  the  page 
was  daubed  with  blotches  of  black  type  and  the  other 
half  was  smeared  with  red  ink.  But  typographical 
eccentricity  alone  does  little  harm;  it's  a  question  of 
taste. 

Mr.  Pulitzer  had  made  his  great  success  on  the  lines 
indicated  above  and  was  breathing  easily.  It  was  not 
until  another  man  came  along  who  outdid  Mr.  Pulitzer 
in  multiple  exaggerations  of  the  same  game  that  the 
country  saw  the  most  riotous  journalism  ever  known 
anywhere.  Mr.  Pulitzer's  early  efforts  at  sensational- 
ism were  as  a  smoking  ash  barrel  when  compared  with 
the  Vesuvius  of  volcanic  flame  and  melted  lava  that 
followed.  That  Mr.  Hearst  would  collect  a  bigger  mob 
of  readers  was  inevitable,  but  Mr.  Pulitzer  lost  no  read- 
ers and  gained  many.  Both  establishments  kept  up  the 
contest  as  long  as  circulations  continued  to  grow;  but 
with  the  pause  of  the  rocket  rise  things  began  to  simmer 
down  to  a  less  spectacular  splendor  of  insanity.  The 
inflammation  of  the  imagination  subsided  and  gradually 
they  approached  the  routine  and  the  respectability  of 
the  other  newspapers. 

It  was  the  same  old  story — the  story  so  familiar  to 
every  journalist  of  ripening  years — of  building  up  a 
newspaper  circulation  by  spectacular  methods  and  then 
relapsing  into  ordinary  goodness  with  a  deliberation 
so  gradual  that  the  reader  does  not  notice  the  change. 
For  every  editor  knows  that  the  more  details  of  sin, 
vice,  and  crime  he  crams  into  his  newspaper  the  more 


WHAT   TO   PRINT  89 

copies  of  that  newspaper  will  be  sold ;  and  every  editor 
knows  that  the  most  subtle  temptation  that  besets  him 
is  the  temptation  to  print  the  things  that  should  not  be 
printed  and  that  temptation  is  the  more  acute  because 
he  knows  that  the  people  want  to  read  them.  Aye! 
there's  the  rub!  The  people  want  the  sensational 
stuff.  The  very  sensational  newspapers  sell  three  or 
four  times  as  many  copies  as  do  the  conservative  ones. 
The  proportion  is  even  larger  in  London  and  Paris.  In 
our  large  cities  almost  all  the  newspapers  of  great  cir- 
culation began  the  building  up  process  by  audacious 
sensationalism ;  as  they  became  prosperous  they  became 
moderate. 

Joseph  Addison  of  long-ago  literary  fame  recognized 
the  public  liking  for  sensation.  He  says  in  The  Spec- 
tator: "At  the  same  time  I  am  very  sensible  that  noth- 
ing spreads  a  paper  like  private  calumny  and  defama- 
tion." And  the  Rev.  Lyman  Abbott,  in  rebuking 
the  sensational  press,  was  moved  to  remark:  "Is  the 
defense  of  the  newspaper  that  it  must  give  the  public 
what  it  wants  a  good  one  ?  Most  certainly  no ! — -no 
more  than  the  selling  of  whiskey,  opium,  stale  fish  or 
decayed  vegetables.  The  editor  is  or  ought  to  be  a 
public  teacher."  The  popular  taste  that  demands  this 
sensational  sort  of  newspaper  stimulant  attracted  the 
notice  of  Lafcadio  Hearn,  who  remarks:  "Everywhere 
there  is  a  public  of  this  kind  to  whom  lacrimose  emo- 
tion and  mawkish  sentiment  give  the  same  kind  of 
pleasure  that  black,  red,  and  blazing  yellow  give  to  the 
eyes  of  little  children  and  savages." 

Conversely,  the  Christian  Science  Monitor  is  read  by 


90         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

thousands  of  persons  for  the  reason  not  so  much  that 
it  represents  a  religious  emotion  as  that  it  prints  whole- 
some news  free  from  spasm.  "It  reflects  the  true  bal- 
ance of  the  world's  work  and  refuses  to  see  only  the  evil 
and  morbid  happenings  in  it  and  let  it  appear  that  they 
are  the  preponderant  forces  of  the  world's  efforts. 
Thus  it  emphasizes  the  decent  things,  the  heroic  things, 
the  things  worth  while."  With  fairly  good  service  the 
Christian  Science  Monitor  presents  the  news  of  the 
day,  and  it  especially  appeals  to  parents  who  wish 
to  keep  the  tart  news  reports  of  the  secular  press  from 
their  children. 

What  to  print?  That  is  a  query  that  has  disturbed 
many  an  editor's  nightcap.  So  much  depends  on  the 
editorial  purpose.  If  the  editor  seeks  to  have  a  whole- 
some influence,  seeks  to  do  good,  seeks  a  reputation 
for  honesty  of  purpose  and  honesty  of  community  serv- 
ice he  naturally  will  stick  to  a  conservative  course ;  for 
somehow,  exaggeration  and  sensationalism,  not  to  men- 
tion falsehood,  do  not  seem  quite  to  harmonize  with 
moral  precepts;  nor  do  they  inspire  confidence  in  the 
editor's  influence.  The  conservative  sheets  are  duller, 
but  they  are  trusted  the  more — and  public  confidence 
is  a  mighty  fine  foundation  on  which  to  build  a  healthy 
circulation. 

Many  persons  read  the  same  newspaper  for  years  and 
years.  They  become  used  to  its  ways,  to  its  arrange- 
ment of  news  and  topics ;  and  they  have  confidence  in  its 
integrity.  It  comes  to  be  almost  a  spiritual  consolation 
to  them.  They  swear  by  it  and  they  believe  in  it  just 


WHAT  TO   PRINT  91 

as  they  believe  in  their  pastor  or  their  family  physician. 
This  is  especially  true  of  readers  in  the  smaller  cities 
and  villages  although  it  prevails  everywhere.  Now,  it 
behooves  the  editor  to  nurse  this  attitude,  for  once  it 
gets  hold  on  a  community  it  is  hard  to  dislodge.  It 
grows  like  a  river  after  spring  rains,  slowly  but  surely 
increasing  in  volume  and  in  strength.  The  people 
bought  Greeley's  Tribune  because  they  believed  that 
Greeley  was  honest.  They  were  willing  to  be  influenced 
by  what  he  said.  For  the  same  reason  Bowles's  Spring- 
field Republican  became  popular  and  prosperous. 
Throughout  the  country  we  have  repeated  instances  of 
newspapers  having  the  confidence  of  the  community  be- 
cause they  are  honestly  conducted. 

The  New  York  Times  is  perhaps  our  most  gratifying 
exhibit  of  a  newspaper  advanced  to  supreme  success  by 
conservative  methods.  Free  from  exaggeration  of 
statement,  or  typographical  appearance,  or  hysteria 
of  any  sort,  it  has  grown  to  great  circulation  and  in- 
fluence. Mr.  Ochs  planned  this  result  on  the  theory 
of  giving  to  each  reader  the  things  in  which  he  was  per- 
sonally interested,  printing  the  news  in  such  volume 
as  to  attract  a  great  variety  of  interests.  The  lawyer 
found  the  full  court  calendar,  the  real  estate  man  a 
record  of  every  sale,  the  sporting  enthusiast  the  result 
of  every  game. 

Reversal  of  political  policy  has  damaged  the  pros- 
perity of  many  a  newspaper.  In  1872  the  New  York 
Tribune,  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and  the  Cincinnati  Com- 
mercial Tribune,  that  had  built  up  large  circulations 


92         THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

and  had  secured  a  profitable  business  as  Republican 
newspapers,  bolted  the  nomination  of  the  Republican 
candidate,  President  Grant,  and  supported  Horace 
Greeley,  the  Liberal  Democratic  nominee,  for  the  presi- 
dency. They  lost  more  than  half  of  their  readers. 

In  1884,  the  New  York  Times,  that  always  had  been 
unflinchingly  Republican,  bolted  the  nomination  of 
James  G.  Elaine  and  supported  the  candidacy  of  Grover 
Cleveland,  the  Democratic  standard  bearer.  It  lost 
half  of  its  readers.  In  the  same  campaign,  the  Swn,  of 
New  York,  that  heretofore  had  favored  the  Democratic 
cause,  bolted  Cleveland.  It  lost  more  than  half  of  its 
readers. 

Many  other  instances  of  loss  of  circulation  in  con- 
sequence of  change  of  political  policy  might  be  given. 
Newspaper  editors  of  long  memories  expect  popular 
resentment  of  a  turn-coat  policy  and  they  give  great 
consideration  to  any  change  before  making  it.  No 
amount  or  degree  of  caressing  talk  or  pussy-paw  argu- 
ment seems  to  soothe  the  man  whose  politics  or  re- 
ligion has  been  attacked.  Also,  if  you  attack  a  man's 
politics  or  his  religion  you  are  likely  to  make  that  man 
your  enemy — and  almost  every  man  has  a  trace  of  poli- 
tics or  religion  in  his  makeup.  He  regards  it  as  a  per- 
sonal assault  on  himself.  He  also  resents  criticism  of 
a  friend  or  of  the  object  of  his  hero  worship.  The 
newspaper  that  attacked  General  Grant  when  Grant 
was  the  idol  of  the  nation,  when  he  was  worshiped  be- 
cause he  had  led  our  armies  to  victory,  that  newspaper 
lost  thousands  of  readers  and  its  editor  lost  a  host  of 


WHAT  TO   PRINT  93 

his  personal  friends.  The  newspaper  that  attacked  the 
Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  with  more  violence  than  did 
any  other  newspaper,  at  the  time  of  the  famous  Beecher 
trial,  lost  three  or  four  thousand  of  its  readers  a  day 
while  the  attacks  continued.  The  public  had  become 
greatly  excited  and  divided  over  the  question  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  guilt  or  innocence.  Neighbors  shook  fists  in 
each  other's  faces  on  Brooklyn  street  corners  and  the 
angry  controversy  spread  all  over  the  country.  The 
church  people  in  general  championed  the  pastor  and 
their  defense  of  him  came  at  length,  in  a  way,  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  defense  of  religion  as  well,  and  the  news- 
paper assaults  as  an  attack  on  religion. 

We  have  said  that  it  behooves  the  editor  who  has  the 
confidence  of  his  constituents  to  nurse  that  confidence 
— that  a  circulation  based  on  confidence  is  not  easily 
lost.  Nevertheless,  it  is  fatal  to  mislead  the  public.  It 
is  dangerous  to  circulation  to  go  against  public  senti- 
ment. A  knowledge  of  public  sentiment  and  the  ability 
to  anticipate  public  sentiment  are  brilliants,  indeed,  in 
the  editor's  jewelbox  of  sagacity. 

The  absolutely  fearless  editor  who  values  his  opinion 
more  than  he  values  his  income,  will  slam  into  the  pub- 
lic's most  cherished  notions  if  he  thinks  he  is  right.  He 
will  take  a  violent  attitude  on  all  public  questions. 
The  timid  editor  shuns  controversy.  His  policy  is  to 
praise  rather  than  to  condemn.  He  fears  unpopularity. 
He  knows  that  to  lambaste  the  city  government  is  to 
lose  the  city  printing.  He  strives  to  please  everybody, 
to  avoid  antagonizing  any  large  part  of  the  com- 


94         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

munity.  The  fearless  editor  disregards  consequences; 
the  timid  editor  avoids  them. 

Mr.  Dana  used  to  say:  "We  must  make  the  paper 
talked  about.  We  must  make  it  more  interesting.  The 
people  will  not  buy  it  if  it  is  dull."  Concerning  a  piece 
of  inconsequential  news  that  he  had  clipped  from  its 
columns  he  wrote:  "This  is  not  good.  It  is  too  com- 
monplace. There  is  no  poetry  in  it.  A  blockhead  might 
have  written  it."  He  abhorred  the  commonplace.  He 
urged  constantly  that  minor  routine  news  be  put  aside 
for  anything  bright  or  unusual,  that  verbal  tediousness 
be  hooted  out  of  the  place.  He  loved  literature.  He 
appreciated  and  praised  good  writing  and  he  inspired 
his  staff  to  enthusiasm  for  it,  and  to  superexcellence 
of  workmanship.  Mr.  Dana  chose  to  lead  public  opin- 
ion rather  than  be  led  by  it.  He  wrote  with  extraor- 
dinary forcefulness  and  with  entire  disregard,  with  ab- 
solute unconcern,  as  to  the  effect  of  his  utterances  on 
the  circulation  of  the  paper.  Repeatedly  he  printed 
articles  that  he  knew  must  cost  him  thousands  of 
readers. 

Greeley's  idea  was  to  print  a  newspaper  of  national 
importance  and  national  influence;  and  that  meant  of 
course  the  printing  of  a  lot  of  national  politics.  He 
sought  to  be  a  great  political  leader,  to  be  the  champion 
of  his  party.  He  was  little  interested  as  a  journalist 
in  the  ordinary  run  of  news. 

Whitelaw  Reid,  who  succeded  Greeley  as  editor  of 
the  New  York  Tribune,  once  said:  "The  thing  always 
forgotten  by  the  closest  critics  of  the  newspapers  is 
that  the  newspapers  must  be  measurably  what  their 


WHAT  TO   PRINT  95 

readers  make  them,  what  their  constituents  call  for  and 
sustain."  Reid  wished  the  Tribime  to  be  of  national 
importance.  His  remark  naturally  recalls  the  con- 
tinuous performance  discussion  as  to  whether  the  news- 
papers lead  the  people  or  whether  public  opinion  leads 
the  newspapers.  But  we  must  agree,  I  am  sure,  that 
it  is  useless  to  give  the  people  what  they  do  not  want. 

How  can  we  best  interest  the  reader?  People  enjoy 
reading  about  the  things  in  which  they  have  partici- 
pated. If  you  have  attended  a  public  meeting  you 
follow  with  pleasure  the  newspaper  report  of  that  meet- 
ing. You  are  grateful  to  recognize  things  you  remem- 
ber the  speaker  to  have  said.  If  you  have  been  to  the 
theater  you  want  to  read  a  report  or  a  criticism  of  the 
performance.  You  are  pleased  especially  if  the  critic 
mentions  some  good  or  poor  feature  that  you  had  no- 
ticed. It  is  a  sort  of  verification  of  your  judgment. 
You  feel  a  sense  of  personal  participation  in  the  article. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  opera  or  a  music  event.  All 
these  things  are  constantly  recurring,  and  reporters 
and  critics  are  likely  to  become  so  familiar  with  them 
that  their  importance  becomes  obscured.  This  is  true 
of  opera  and  theater  notices.  The  opera  critic  who  has 
been  listening  to  Faust  for  thirty  years  ceases  to  write 
much  about  it ;  but  the  young  person  who  hears  the 
opera  for  the  first  time  is  disappointed  because  so  little 
is  printed  about  the  performance. 

We  are  much  more  interested  in  accounts  of  the  ball 
games,  the  prize  fights,  the  contests  of  any  sort  that 
we  have  seen  than  we  can  be  in  those  not  seen. 

To  the  man  or  woman  in  society  the  news  of  society 


96         THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

is  infinitely  more  than  mere  gossip.  The  society  man 
of  any  pretension  must  know  what  society  folk  are  do- 
ing, must  be  informed  of  their  every  movement.  His 
newspaper  gives  the  hint  for  many  letters.  He  must 
congratulate  the  family  whose  daughter's  engagement  is 
announced.  He  must  sympathize  with  the  bereaved. 
Society  news  has  the  personal  note,  and  personalities 
sell  newspapers.  Cram  your  sheet  with  them,  young 
man! 

We  are  living  in  a  commercial  age,  a  money-making 
age.  People  are  thinking  as  never  before  of  money  ac- 
cumulation and  business  expansion.  The  journalistic 
tendency  of  the  hour  is  to  exalt  the  practical  and  min- 
imize the  sentimental.  War  has  made  us  money  mad. 
We  note  a  growing  fascination  for  articles  of  the  prac- 
tical, of  how  great  fortunes  are  developed,  of  how  money 
is  made  and  lost,  of  how  the  poor  become  rich  and  the 
rich  become  poor — stories  of  business  construction  in- 
volving millions,  of  the  application  of  invention  to 
everyday  needs.  This  kind  of  narrative  includes  the 
recital  of  personal  successes,  how  the  quick-witted  boy 
becomes  a  captain  of  industry,  how  Nature's  forces 
are  utilized  and  Nature's  secrets  are  turned  to  prac- 
tical account.  ;The  details  of  how  great  success  or 
great  wealth  has  been  achieved  never  have  failed  to 
fascinate  mankind. 

All  fiction  has  been  saturated  with  stories  of  money- 
seeking  because  the  topic  is  so  interesting.  Neverthe- 
less fiction  can  but  feebly  compete  with  the  realities  of 
the  present.  The  tales  of  great  gambling  in  Wall 


WHAT   TO    FEINT  97 

Street,  of  card  conquests  at  Monte  Carlo,  of  new  gold 
discoveries,  of  money  made  in  real-estate  speculations, 
of  gigantic  swindling  operations,  of  big  winnings  on 
the  racing  track,  of  mental  smartness  in  money-getting, 
of  big  success  in  any  quest  for  cash — you  cannot  give 
the  public  too  much  of  this  kind  of  matter  if  you  wish 
to  sell  your  sheet. 

But,  if  you  ask  me  to  describe  the  kind  of  news  for 
which  the  people  surge  and  struggle  around  the  bulle- 
tin boards — the  most  popular  kind  of  news  printed 
anywhere — I  must  reply  that  it  is  found  in  the  details 
of  a  conquest,  a  fight,  whether  between  men  with  their 
fists,  or  dogs,  or  armies,  politicians  or  polo  players, 
football  teams  or  racing  horses,  church  choirs  or 
kitchen  cabinets. 

I  remember  so  well  that  in  my  boyhood  days  my  own 
little  village  held  its  breath  to  await  details  of  the 
world's  champion  prize  fight  between  John  C.  Heenan, 
of  America,  and  Tom  Sayers,  of  England.  Not  since 
that  day  has  interest  in  prize  fights  languished.  The 
fist  fight  between  John  L.  Sullivan  and  James  Corbett 
quadrupled  the  circulation  of  next-day  newspapers. 
Repeatedly  the  big  New  York  Madison  Square  Garden 
has  been  crowded  to  its  roof  with  enthusiasts  who  paid 
from  fifteen  to  fifty  dollars  to  see  two  men  batter 
each  other.  Fifty  thousand  persons  see  the  big  foot- 
ball games,  and  fifteen  millions  read  about  them. 

So  great  is  the  interest  in  baseball  contests  the  news- 
papers are  compelled  to  print  from  seven  to  ten  col- 
umns a  day  in  description  of  them.  The  same  condi- 


98        THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

tions  exist  to  a  triflingly  less  degree  only  with  con- 
tests in  tennis,  rowing,  polo,  yachting,  horse  racing, 
golf — any  event,  especially  in  athletics,  involving  a  fight 
for  supremacy.  I  know  of  one  New  York  newspaper 
that  confidently  counts  on  an  increase  of  eighteen  or 
twenty  thousand  in  circulation  with  the  opening  of  the 
baseball  season.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  popu- 
lar interest  in  the  details  of  any  kind  of  contest, 
especially  one  that  has  been  lavishly  advertised. 

Business  usually  languishes  every  four  years  while 
the  fight  for  the  Presidency  proceeds,  and  the  news- 
papers print  hundreds  of  columns  about  it.  The  squab- 
bles, the  encounters,  the  fights  in  sports,  in  business, 
in  politics,  in  the  courts,  among  doctors  and  educators, 
in  the  churches  even — they  all  absorb  the  people  almost 
to  the  limit  of  human  interest.  The  young  man  in 
journalism  should  get  wise  to  this  interest. 

Whatever  is  nearest  the  heart,  whatever  is  uppermost 
in  mind — that  is  what  we  want  to  read  about.  We  are 
changeable  creatures  in  thought,  in  purpose,  and  in 
habit.  The  new  always  is  fascinating.  The  smart  edi- 
tor recognizes  the  love  of  change ;  accordingly  he  exalts 
the  new.  More  than  that,  he  anticipates  interest  that 
is  to  develop,  foresees  changes  in  government  policies, 
the  introduction  of  new  methods,  the  outcome  of  sci- 
entific discovery.  He  prepares  his  readers  accordingly. 

Man's  great  interest  is  in  his  business,  in  his  money- 
making.  Frequently  the  newspapers  are  of  especial 
service  to  him.  In  many  lines  of  business  they  are  a 
necessity.  The  manufacturer  of  goods,  for  instance, 


WHAT   TO   PRINT  99 

searches  every  column  for  information  bearing  on  the 
raw  product  that  enters  into  them,  the  price,  the  sup- 
ply, the  demand,  weather  conditions  that  may  influ- 
ence, the  condition  and  the  cost  of  transportation,  the 
effect  of  legislation,  the  menace  of  competition — any- 
thing that  has  influence  on  the  making  and  delivery 
of  his  product.  Quick  information  is  priceless  to  him. 

But  interest  in  war  surpasses  all  other  attention,  as 
it  has  from  the  beginning  of  man's  mastery  over  man. 
It  is  difficult  to  recall  any  condition  of  human  ex- 
istence not  affected  by  war.  War  is  supreme  as  an 
agent  of  destruction.  It  destroys  not  only  nations  and 
governments,  life  and  property,  but  also  it  blunts  civ- 
ilization, coarsens  refinement,  stops  study  and  progress, 
prevents  the  fulfillment  of  life-cherished  plans 
and  ambitions,  changes  the  life  purpose  of  .millions  of 
men.  It  is  entirely  impossible  to  comprehend  the  multi- 
tudinous effects  of  war  or  to  appreciate  the  condition 
of  mind  in  which  a  stricken  people  emerge  from  war. 
The  study  of  war  gives  the  journalist  exalted  oppor- 
tunity. His  readers  are  interested  in  war  more  than 
in  anything  else. 

Some  folks  delight  in  reading  criticisms  of  their 
neighbors,  attacks  on  public  men  or  complaints  of  the 
conduct  of  mankind  in  general.  This  is  a  species  of 
jealousy  that  rejoices  in  the  discomfiture  of  others. 
They  gloat  over  disclosures,  get  cynical  over  the 
downfall  of  public  idols  and  the  reversals  of  popular 
beliefs.  Nothing  pleases  them  more  than  to  have  a 
clergyman  go  astray  or  a  church  member  get  in  jail. 


100      THE   YOUNG   MAN    AND   JOURNALISM 

They  are  fond  of  investigations.  Their  pinhead  per- 
ceptions find  nourishment  in  the  mistakes  of  others. 
They  always  take  the  negative  side.  They  question. 
They  doubt.  They  lament.  They  scold. 

It  is  easy  for  an  editor  to  acquire  this  attitude. 
Many  editors  have  assumed  it,  beginning  with  the  no- 
tion of  catering  to  people  who  like  this  sort  of  reading ; 
then  they  gradually  absorb  the  flavor.  We  have  had 
the  examples  of  ill-natured  newspapers  nicknamed  by 
the  public  the  "Growler,"  or  the  "Scold,"  or  the  "Old 
Pessimist."  Not  long  ago  several  magazines  sought 
fame  and  circulation  by  a  conduct  of  criticism  of  pub- 
lic men  called  muckraking.  The  sale  of  thousands  of 
copies  attested  general  greed  for  that  kind  of  read- 
ing. This  public  attitude  certainly  tempts  the  edi- 
tor; but  experience  has  taught  that  the  public  scold  is 
vastly  unpopular,  be  he  editor,  preacher,  teacher  or 
oracle  of  any  sort. 

And  many  are  interested  in  reading  about  the 
weather.  It  is  a  universal  topic  of  conversation.  It 
governs  our  agricultural  prosperity.  It  influences  every 
kind  of  business.  It  stops  the  ball  games.  It  parches 
our  soil,  interferes  with  our  plans,  disturbs  our  com- 
fort, upsets  mental  processes,  compels  us  to  change 
our  clothing  when  we  do  not  want  to.  It  makes  us  wear 
clumsy  things  on  our  feet.  It  raises  the  very  mis- 
chief in  a  hundred  different  ways.  Everybody  thinks 
of  it  or  speaks  of  it  twenty  times  a  day.  The  wise 
editor  will  print  a  fine  fat  paragraph  about  it,  describ- 
ing the  weather  over  all  this  broad  land,  giving  the  prac- 


WHAT   TO   PRINT  101 

tical,  the  scientific  reasons  for  its  varied  changes,  and 
explaining  the  indicated  effect  on  trade,  travel,  and 
temperament. 

What  shall  we  print?  A  California  newspaper  sought 
through  a  questionnaire  to  learn  from  its  readers  how 
much  of  the  sheet  they  actually  read.  It  summarized 
the  eighteen  hundred  replies.  Seventy-five  per  cent  at- 
tested that  the  reader  looked  at  the  headlines  and  rarely 
finished  the  article;  only  twenty-five  per  cent  ever 
read  an  article  through.  One  answer  said,  "I  go  be- 
yond the  headline  once  in  ten  times,  perhaps,  but  when 
I  do  I  read  it  through."  Still  another,  "I  usually  find 
all  I  want  in  the  first  paragraph."  The  net  result 
seemed  to  indicate  that  almost  all  simply  scanned  the 
sheet  in  search  of  something  to  interest  them,  and 
found  little.  The  chief  criticism  was  that  the  articles 
were  too  long. 

The  Paris  daily  publications  before  the  war  minimized 
the  news  and  in  its  place  presented  discussion  and  com- 
ment, sketchy  description,  much  fiction  and  literary 
matter.  They  achieved  enormous  circulations.  The 
most  successful  were  exceedingly  well  written,  were  dis- 
tinctly literary;  and  they  prospered  greatly  without 
the  aid  of  news  features  of  the  American  and  English 
journalistic  sort.  They  were  made  attractive  and  in- 
teresting by  their  excellence  of  workmanship. 

The  New  York  Evening  Journal  was  carried  to 
enormous  circulation  by  editorial  presentation  rather 
than  news  exploiting.  For  many  years  it  had  neither 
the  Associated  Press  nor  any  other  news  association 


102       THE   YOU^G   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

service.  Its  editorial  utterances  attracted  far  reach- 
ing attention.  What  news  it  had  was  emphasized  by 
exaggeration  and  breathless  anouncement,  and  typo- 
graphical monstrosity. 

The  Evening  Sun,  which  never  had  the  Associated 
Press  dispatches,  attained  great  popularity  and  circu- 
lation through  cheerful,  bright,  and  witty  illumination 
of  things,  and  a  minimum  of  profundity. 

In  a  newspaper  address  before  the  Convocation  of 
the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Mr.  Don 
Seitz,  of  the  New  York  World,  said: 

Talent  was  the  thing  in  the  old  days,  but  we  have  gotten 
over  that,  alas !  Energy  has  taken  the  place  of  talent 
and  the  sudden  fact  has  taken  the  place  of  the  news.  The 
modern  editor  has  been  misled  somehow  into  using  a  great 
deal  of  display  type  to  handle  the  few  words  he  uses,  and 
at  first  I  had  the  thought  that  this  was  wrong.  But  some- 
how I  have  changed  my  mind.  It  is  necessary  to  arouse 
interest.  The  vast  number  of  readers  are  rudimentary  in 
thought.  They  do  not  take  easily  to  a  dull  solid  column  no 
matter  how  interesting  it  may  be.  In  trying,  therefore,  to 
catch  the  largest  number  of  readers  the  editor  conceived 
the  idea  of  putting  in  larger  type.  It  has  shown  what  the 
people  wanted,  and  that  they  must  have  some  quick  way  of 
learning  what  was  going  on,  and  mind  you,  we  have 
shortened  up  our  reading  time  a  great  deal,  which  is  another 
fact. 

With  many  people  newspaper  reading  becomes  a 
fixed  habit.  They  come  to  enjoy  their  favorite  publica- 
tion just  as  they  enjoy  food  and  sleep.  It  gives  them 
topics  for  thought  and  conversation.  They  become 


WHAT   TO    PRINT  103 

interested  in  its  features,  in  the  "colyum"  of  fun  and 
chat  and  josh  that  has  become  so  popular,  in  the 
illustrated  comic  strips  that  started  with  Foxy 
Grandpa  and  have  come  to  include  Percy  and  Ferdie, 
Bringing  up  Father,  Mutt  and  Jeff,  and  the  rest  of 
the  jolly  folk.  Constant  reading  about  them  brings  a 
feeling  of  personal  acquaintance  with  them  and  the 
habit  of  seeking  for  them.  They  help  amazingly  to  draw 
readers  and  to  retain  them.  The  newspaper  habit  is 
to  be  encouraged  and  these  features  help  to  fix  it. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  popularity  of  the  medical 
column,  of  the  puzzle  department,  of  the  question  and 
answer  feature,  and  of  the  other  like  things  that  serve 
to  amuse  the  reader. 

Parents  seek  topics,  also,  that  will  interest  the  chil- 
dren, simple  and  childlike  though  they  be.  It  is  amus- 
ing to  note  how  interested  older  people  get  in  articles 
on  important  subjects  written  down  to  a  child's  un- 
derstanding. Somebody  is  going  to  make  a  fortune 
sometime  by  printing  a  children's  newspaper  giving  the 
news  and  the  questions  of  the  day  in  language  and 
thought  that  children  can  understand.  "Grown-ups" 
will  appreciate  it  quite  as  much  as  will  the  youngsters. 

Just  how  much  of  exaggeration  and  feverish  lan- 
guage and  typographical  eccentricity  to  inject  into 
the  sheet  always  puzzles  the  editor.  He  is  tempted  by 
public  demand  for  it,  yet  he  does  not  want  a  reputa- 
tion for  sensationalism. 

The  hysteria  of  the  sensational  newspaper  may  not 
be  of  harm  to  a  young  person  who  reads  it  casually. 


104       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

But  suppose  she,  the  shop  girl  for  instance,  acquires 
the  habit  of  reading  it  every  day.  Because  of  her  em- 
ployment, or  her  environment,  she  has  not  time  or  op- 
portunity to  read  anything  else.  She  comes  to  think 
and  to  talk  in  its  exaggerated,  inflamed,  feverish  lan- 
guage. Its  typographical,  breathless  announcements 
startle  her — fill  her  with  feverish  emotions.  She  be- 
comes a  pessimist,  for  in  the  sensational  sheet  the  true, 
the  good,  the  normal  are  ignored.  "Virtue  go  hang; 
vice  is  the  thing  that  attracts  attention"  is  the  motto. 
The  maiden  is  fed  on  the  abnormal,  the  unusual,  on 
mental  monstrosities,  and  fancies.  It  influences  her  life. 

It  was  said  not  so  very  long  ago  that  ten  years  of 
cheap  reading  had  changed  the  British  from  the  most 
stolid  nation  of  Europe  to  the  most  hysterical  and 
theatrical.  Be  this  as  it  may:  habitual  cheap  read- 
ing must  of  necessity  produce  cheap  thinking,  and 
cheap  expression  of  thought,  and  consequently  cheap 
moral  conduct.  It  is  in  this  direction  that  the  sensa- 
tional press  and  the  cheap  literature  of  the  day  have 
their  chief  influence.  Cheap  literature  produces  cheap 
mentality  and,  therefore,  a  cheap  people. 

In  defense  of  sensationalism  it  is  urged  that  you  can- 
not arouse  the  interest  of  the  ignorant  man  by  ordi- 
nary methods  of  speech.  His  mind  is  too  sluggish  to 
comprehend  it  as  ordinarily  spoken.  He  can  appreciate 
big  headlines  and  lurid  catch  words  and  they  attract 
him. 

I  have  lingered  over  these  things  in  somewhat  prosy 
manner,  perhaps,  but  if  you  are  going  into  the  news- 


WHAT   TO   PRINT  105 

paper  business  I  know  of  little  more  important  than 
real  study  of  what  to  print.  The  practical  newspaper 
man  thinks  of  it  by  the  hour.  The  good  newspaper  is 
not  the  product  of  chance.  Every  phase  of  life  is 
thought  out  and  its  relation  to  public  interest  is 
weighed.  Public  interest  changes  almost  daily.  It  must 
be  studied,  must  be  anticipated,  must  be  prepared  for. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  PLEASING  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE 
FOREIGN  CORRESPONDENT 

THE  post  of  foreign  correspondent  is  sought  eagerly 
by  newspaper  men.  The  work  is  interesting  and  agree- 
able and  the  experience  is  invaluable.  It  gives  oppor- 
tunity for  foreign  travel  and  for  that  mental  enrich- 
ment through  study  and  observation  that  cannot  be 
experienced  elsewhere.  The  correspondent  is  removed 
from  the  constriction  of  home  office  discipline  and  of- 
fice tradition  and  the  everlasting  admonition  to  "hurry 
up."  In  times  of  war  his  work  is  strenuous,  of  course, 
and  highly  important,  and  entirely  different  from  his 
activities  in  times  of  peace. 

The  more  important  American  newspapers  have  a 
representative  in  the  chief  capitals  of  Europe,  some  of 
them  in  two  or  three  cities,  others  in  London  alone. 
These  men  send  important  news  by  cable  and  corre- 
spondence by  mail  and  it  is  their  privilege  to  select 
their  own  topics,  largely.  Thus  they  prove  or  disprove 
their  possession  of  that  rare  quality  of  journalistic 
excellence:  the  ability  to  judge  what  will  be  interesting 
or  important  to  the  far-distant  reader.  In  the  news- 
paper office  at  home  the  writer  usually  writes  to  order 

106 


THE   FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENT  107 

on  an  indicated  subject  and  often  without  regard  to 
his  own  notion  of  whether  the  topic  is  interesting  or 
not.  The  foreign  correspondent  must  judge  for  him- 
self what  to  send.  But  his  field  is  large,  his  oppor- 
tunities are  many,  and  he  comes  to  love  the  work  be- 
cause it  is  so  fascinating.  He  writes  of  the  great  ques- 
tions that  are  moving  Europe,  of  the  coronation  of 
kings,  the  collapse  of  cabinets,  the  burial  of  popes,  the 
birth  and  life  and  death  of  revolutions,  of  social  life, 
of  political  life,  of  artistic  life,  the  triumphs  of  sci- 
ence, invention,  and  discovery.  The  treasuries  of  the 
Old  World  invite  his  study.  Its  follies,  frivolities, 
foibles  and  fashions  tempt  to  his  amusement.  He  has 
a  mighty  good  time  over  there. 

But,  when  he  begins  to  send  cablegrams  to  his  news- 
paper he  encounters  a  situation  that  appeals  to  his 
business  manager  as  well  as  to  the  reading  public,  for 
the  cost  of  cable  messages  is  great.  Seven  cents  a  word 
for  those  that  take  their  time  and  twenty-five  cents  for 
those  that  are  to  be  rushed — and  columns  to  be  filled. 
Here  is  where  judgment  as  to  what  to  send,  cunning  in 
condensing,  skill  in  skeletonizing  combine  to  reap  re- 
ward. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  the  ordinary  press  rate 
for  cable  messages  ranged  between  five  and  ten  cents  a 
word.  Some  little  time  before  the  war  the  wireless  tele- 
graph people  delivered  reports  for  five  cents,  but  with- 
out assurance  of  prompt  service.  The  system  had  not 
been  made  so  perfect  as  it  is  now  and  its  operation 
was  not  entirely  satisfactory.  Then  the  war  stopped  its 


108       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

use  for  newspaper  purposes.  It  has  been  resumed  re- 
cently at  the  five-cent  rate,  messages  to  be  delivered 
within  twenty-four  hours.  The  cable  companies  made 
some  attempt  to  meet  this  price  before  the  war,  but 
not  much  came  of  it.  Ten  cents  a  word  for  the  regu- 
lar message  and  twenty-five  for  the  expedited  dis- 
patch was  the  price  for  a  long  time.  The  expedited 
message  was  the  message  sent  immediately  without  any 
delay.  The  ordinary  message  was  taken  without  assur- 
ance of  quick  delivery.  During  the  war  rates  varied. 
The  cables  were  crowded  and  the  newspapers  were  com- 
pelled to  use  the  expedited  messages.  At  one  time 
the  cost  of  this  message  was  thirty-three  cents  a  word. 

Since  the  war  something  like  the  old  rates  have  been 
restored.  Just  now  they  are  seven  cents  for  the  ordi- 
nary report.  The  expedited  message  arrangement  is  no 
longer  offered ;  but,  by  making  the  report  a  commercial 
message,  at  commercial  rates  of  twenty-five  cents,  the 
newspaper  article  takes  its  turn  for  transmission.  This 
means  that  the  commercial  message  is  used,  commonly, 
for  the  newspaper  cannot  wait.  It  cannot  risk  miss- 
ing the  news  through  delay.  Money  is  lost  on  the 
news-report  delivered  after  the  sheet  has  gone  to  press. 

Experience  has  attested  that  code  or  cipher  messages 
are  not  practical  for  newspaper  purposes,  The  oppor- 
tunity for  error  is  too  great  and  too  much  time  is  re- 
quired for  translation.  But  experience  has  taught,  also, 
the  use  of  certain  prefixes  and  suffixes  and  jugglings 
by  which  much  may  be  expressed  in  few  words.  It  is 
a  simple  system  of  skeletonizing,  easy  of  translation 


THE   FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENT  109 

into  the  finished  product.  The  plan  depends  largely 
on  complete  understanding  between  the  sender  abroad 
and  the  cable  editor  in  the  home  office. 
\The  London  man  sends  newspaper  clippings  by  mail 
of  events  that  are  likely  to  figure  or  reappear  in  future 
news,  programs  of  coming  happenings  like  coronations, 
or  festivals,  or  ceremonials,  descriptions  of  ships  about 
to  be  launched,  or  buildings  to  be  dedicated,  inaugura- 
tions, pageants,  with  all  of  the  plans,  arrangements,  and 
the  names  of  persons  who  are  to  participate,  and  the 
like.  When  the  event  happens  he  cables,  for  instance: 
"Madrid  Alfonso  crowned  unchange."  "Unchange" 
means  that  the  coronation  of  the  Spanish  king  was 
solemnized  without  change  of  program,  that  the  mat- 
ter sent  in  advance  by  mail  may  be  used  with  what  the 
correspondent  now  cables.  The  cable  editor  in  Amer- 
ica writes  from  what  the  correspondent  sends,  and 
from  the  program  slips,  a  report  of  the  coronation,  em- 
bellishing it  perhaps  with  a  few  lines  here  and  there 
about  the  cheering  multitudes,  the  elaborate  decora- 
tions, and  the  other  things  that  obviously  add  splendor 
to  every  coronation  of  a  king.  The  cable  editor  knows 
right  well  that  if  the  crowds  were  sullen  or  the  decora- 
tions were  lacking  or  the  soldiers  did  not  strut  and 
shout,  the  correspondent  surely  would  say  so.  The  cor- 
respondent is  keen  to  notice  any  deviation  from  the 
program  and  to  cable  details  of  the  change.  The  edi- 
tor at  this  end  pads  out  the  skeleton  report  into  read- 
able narrative  with  no  intention  of  deceiving  any- 
body. 


110      THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

Newspaper  descriptions  of  the  doings  of  men  in  pub- 
lic life,  or  who  in  any  manner  attract  public  atten- 
tion, are  mailed  to  the  home  office  and  they  are  of 
frequent  use  when  the  man  reappears  in  the  news  in 
any  way.  A  few  years  ago  one  Barnard  Barnato  made 
fame  for  himself  by  getting  a  great  fortune  through 
South  Africa  diamond  mine  operations,  and  newspaper 
cuttings  exploiting  him  were  in  every  office.  One  night 
a  cable  message  floated  into  New  York  which  ran: 

"Barnato  homing  Unicorn  suicided  overboard  off 
Gibraltar."  From  these  seven  words  and  his  news- 
paper slips  and  his  general  knowledge  of  Barnato  the 
cable  editor  constructed  an  article  of  a  third  of  a 
column  or  so  in  length  which  said  that  Barnard 
Barnato,  the  widely  celebrated  South  African  diamond 
king,  who  recently  had  visited  his  famous  mines  a  few 
miles  north  of  Cape  Town,  met  his  death  by  suicide, 
while  returning  to  his  home  in  England,  by  leaping  over- 
board from  the  Royal  Line  steamship  the  Unicorn  when 
the  vessel  was  off  port  of  Gibraltar,  etc.,  etc.  And  the 
account  included  a  description  of  the  victim  of  self-de- 
struction, his  vast  operations,  his  family  and  business 
associations,  and  other  things  about  Barnato  that  sup- 
posedly might  interest  a  reader. 

Again,  there  comes  a  message  dated  London  which 
reads : 

Reading  Readingess  New  Yorkward  safternoon  Philadel- 
phia untalk  peace  undenied  gravity  Russian. 

From  his  knowledge  of  the  diplomatic  situation  and 
of  current  events,  and  from  his  bunch  of  newspaper  cut- 


THE  FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENT  111 

tings  the  foreign  editor  finds  it  quite  easy  to  construct 
a  fat  paragraph  to  run  something  like: 

London — Lord  Reading,  the  newly  appointed  Ambas- 
sador to  represent  Great  Britain  in  the  United  States,  sailed 
for  New  York  this  afternoon  in  the  steamship  Philadelphia. 
On  arrival  he  will  proceed  immediately  to  Washington  to 
enter  upon  his  duties.  This  is  Lord  Reading's  third  visit 
to  America.  He  was  sent  by  his  government  two  years  ago 
on  a  special  mission  and  was  in  Washington  for  two  months 
or  more.  He  is  accompanied  by  his  wife.  He  refused  to 
express  an  opinion  as  to  the  propects  for  peace,  but  would 
not  deny  the  gravity  of  the  situation  in  Russia. 

In  the  above  skeleton  dispatch  the  word  "Readingess" 
means  Lady  Reading.  The  addition  of  "ess"  to  a  man's 
name  designates  his  wife. 

Again  came  one  evening  a  London  message  that  be- 
gan: 

Pm  commons  duohours  restating  aims  intended  Russian 
Bolsheviki  but  principally  allies  position  to  labor  urged 
ongo  warwin  quote 

"Pm"  means  Great  Britain's  Prime  Minister  whoever 
he  happens  to  be.  This  message  was  written  out  to 
say  that  Lloyd  George  had  addressed  a  meeting  of 
the  House  of  Commons  for  two  hours  that  evening 
restating  the  war  aims  of  the  allies.  Ostensibly  he 
was  speaking  for  the  benefit  of  the  Russians,  but  it 
was  plain  that  he  was  addressing  the  labor  party  of 
the  Empire  in  particular,  and  that  the  Government 
urged  the  labor  party  to  push  on  and  help  to  win 
the  war.  "Quote"  meant  that  what  was  to  follow  was 


112       THE   YOUNG   MAN    AND   JOURNALISM 

a   verbatim   report   of  what  the  Prime   Minister   said 
and  was  to  be  preceded  by  quotation  marks. 

Close  skeletonizing  of  this  sort  is  used  for  short  and 
comparatively  unimportant  news  announcements.  It 
cannot  be  used  to  advantage  in  long  narration,  in  ex- 
planation of  political  complications,  or  reports  of  con- 
sequence. But  in  minor  messages  it  is  of  frequent 
use  by  news  associations  and  by  correspondents.  It  is 
an  entirely  legitimate  practice  since  it  involves  no  mis- 
statement  of  fact.  It  is  simple,  as  may  be  seen,  and 
the  knack  of  using  it  is  easily  acquired.  Yet  obviously 
the  more  ingenuity  and  skill  employed  the  greater  will 
be  the  saving  at  seven  cents  or  twenty-five  cents  a 
word.  The  difference  in  its  skillful  and  its  indifferent 
use  amounts  to  thousands  of  dollars  in  a  year. 

In  times  of  war  the  cost  of  news  transmission  by 
cable  is  enormous.  Repeatedly  in  the  late  conflict  it 
reached  thousands  of  dollars  for  the  description  of  a 
single  battle,  or  a  movement.  At  times  these  costly 
dispatches  were  sent  day  after  day.  In  our  war 
with  Spain  when  reports  were  sent  by  dispatch  boats 
to  Kingston,  Jamaica,  for  transmission  hence  by  cable, 
as  much  as  two  dollars  a  word  was  paid  for  sending 
them  to  South  American  and  Isthmus  stations,  hence 
north  through  Texas.  The  direct  cable  from  Kingston 
to  Halifax  was  constantly  crowded.  The  South  Ameri- 
can route  was  the  only  other  available  outlet  and  it 
was  used  freely. 

The  special  foreign  correspondent  does  not  concern 
himself  greatly  with  routine  news :  the  press  associa- 
tions look  after  that.  The  difference  in  time  permits 


THE  FOREIGN   CORRESPONDENT  113 

the  sending  of  all  news  appearing  in  London  editions 
to  American  newspapers  of  the  same  corresponding  edi- 
tion, morning  or  evening.  The  London  papers  are  on 
the  street  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  which  is  eleven 
o'clock  or  before  midnight  in  New  York. 

The  correspondent  seeks  rather  to  elucidate  the  news 
or  to  send  exclusive  information.  He  finds  the  getting 
of  intelligence  much  more  difficult  than  in  America. 
Public  men  are  less  willing  to  furnish  information.  The 
newspaper  man  is  not  so  welcome.  Doors  are  closed 
to  him  that  would  be  flung  open  here.  To  a  yet  greater 
degree  than  here  he  must  gain  the  confidence  and  the 
intimate  acquaintance  of  those  who  are  original  sources 
of  information,  the  confidence  of  the  men  who  are  con- 
ducting public  affairs.  The  correspondent  may  not  al- 
ways print  what  he  learns  for  he  must  not  make  pub- 
lic that  which  is  told  to  him  in  confidence.  But  sooner 
or  later  it  is  of  much  value  to  him.  The  ability 
to  secure  the  attention  and  the  confidence  of  public 
men  is  the  correspondent's  or  the  news  gatherer's  choic- 
est asset.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  success  in  higher 
grade  reportorial  work. 

The  foreign  correspondent,  more  than  any  other 
writer  off  the  editorial  page,  is  permitted  to  assume 
an  editorial  attitude  toward  important  events.  He  may 
comment  and  seek  to  persuade  in  editorial  fashion.  His 
articles  are  the  more  interesting  in  consequence,  for 
not  any  newspaper  writing  is  more  attractive  to  the 
general  reader  than  that  which  contains  narrative  de- 
scription with  running  comment. 

The  French  journalists   are  adepts   at   this  work. 


THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

Many  of  their  publications  contain  no  editorial  articles 
after  the  English  or  the  American  fashion.  They 
treat  an  important  event  rather  as  a  semi-news  semi- 
editorial  review  article — an  article  of  news  with  inter- 
jected comment,  with  expression  of  opinion  as  suits  the 
writer's  fancy  or  belief  or  prejudice. 

In  American  newspapers  of  high  grade  the  reporter 
is  not  permitted  to  comment  or  inject  opinion  or  seek 
to  influence  the  reader ;  he  must  not  depart  from  the  cold 
facts  of  narration.  No  comment  outside  the  editorial 
page  is  the  rule.  The  foreign  correspondent  is  ex- 
cepted  from  this  requirement  and  the  Washington  man 
partly  so. 

Not  any  other  kind  of  newspaper  work  gives  more 
useful  experience.  The  foreign  correspondent  must  un- 
derstand the  great  events  that  are  moving  Europe. 
When  it  is  possible  he  goes  to  the  scene  of  the  occur- 
rence for  first-hand  information.  The  great  disaster 
by  earthquake  that  destroyed  Messina  sent  half  of  the 
correspondents  scurrying  from  London  into  Italy.  The 
election  of  a  new  Pope  finds  them  in  Rome.  A  revo- 
lution in  Poland  discloses  them  on  the  spot  delving  into 
the  secrets  of  the  leaders.  Since  the  great  war  they 
have  been  constantly  in  every  capital  in  Europe  as 
some  new  development  of  finance,  or  a  startling  revela- 
tion of  starvation,  insurrection,  or  political  plot  de- 
manded their  presence.  They  watch  the  activities  of 
a  dozen  nations.  A  few  years  of  this  sort  of  thing 
gives  them  valuable  knowledge. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  TECHNICAL  PRESS 

As  our  young  man  in  journalism  begins  to  get  a 
reputation  among  his  fellows  for  sincere  trustworthy 
work  his  services  may  be  sought  by  other  editors.  Hun- 
dreds of  miscellaneous  weekly  and  monthly  publications 
employ  writers  and  they  draw  largely  from  the  daily 
newspaper  staffs.  More  than  one  thousand  persons 
employed  regularly  in  New  York  City  furnish  the 
copy  for  these  miscellaneous  journals.  Nearly  as  many 
more  are  occasional  or  special  contributors.  There  are 
scores  of  magazines  of  fiction  and  scores  of  weekly  jour- 
nals devoted  to  literature,  religion,  fashions,  humor, 
science,  art,  music  and  the  play-house,  to  sports,  birds, 
and  beasts,  and  fish. 

There  are  journals  devoted  to  the  learned  profes- 
sions, to  medicine,  law,  chemistry,  engineering,  theology, 
electricity.  And  there  are  hundreds  of  technical  pub- 
lications and  trade  papers  that  cater  to  the  interests 
of  all  kinds  of  business:  banking,  insurance,  shipping, 
manufacturing,  railroading,  dry  goods,  textile,  gro- 
cery, hardware,  wines,  spirits,  liqueurs,  drugs.  Almost 
every  occupation  has  some  sort  of  a  publication  to 
advance  its  interests.  Many  of  them  are  prosperous 

115 


116      THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

and  some  of  them  are  "gold  mines"  for  their  owners. 
Almost  all  are  very  helpful  to  the  trade  they  repre- 
sent. They  expand  in  vast  detail  the  things  that  the 
daily  newspapers  pass  by  with  mere  mention  or  do 
not  mention  at  all.  They  tell  the  reader  what  the 
other  fellow  is  doing.  They  cunningly  search  the  en- 
tire world  for  facts  bearing  on  the  business  they  rep- 
resent. Their  representatives  in  Washington,  and  at 
every  state  capital,  inform  of  any  proposed  legislation 
hostile  to  their  clients'  interests — restriction  of  trade, 
increased  taxation,  regulation  of  methods,  legislative 
strikes  or  blackmailing  raids. 

In  the  editorial  columns  are  discussed  every  phase 
of  business  that  could  affect  the  readers'  business  and 
the  news  columns  give  every  obtainable  fact,  includ- 
ing columns  of  routine  record  such  as  price  list  quota- 
tions, statistics  of  merchandise  movement,  government 
reports  of  agricultural  and  metal  production,  and  the 
like. 

A  vast  volume  of  technical  matter  is  required  to 
fill  these  publications,  the  writing  of  which  calls  for 
expert  and  special  knowledge  and  continuous  study. 
The  writer's  task  is  difficult  for  the  reason  that  he 
is  not  writing  for  the  general  public,  but  rather  for 
men  who  already  have  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the 
subject  and  who  instantly  detect  misstatement  of  fact 
or  feebleness  of  reasoning.  Nevertheless,  the  writer 
appreciates  that  his  business-man  reader  is  keenly  alive 
to  know  the  doings  of  his  rivals  who  may  be  smarter 
and  more  successful  than  himself  and  who  are  work- 
ing to  solve  the  same  problems  as  himself. 


THE   TECHNICAL   PRESS  117 

Writing  for  the  technical  press  is  not  so  fascinating 
as  for  the  newspapers,  the  literary  weeklies,  or  the  mag- 
azines of  fiction.  The  imagination  has  less  opportun- 
ity to  frolic.  Facility  of  literary  expression  is  not  an 
asset.  The  embryos  of  inspiration  and  ambition  are 
incubated  elsewhere.  Constant  consideration  of  the  one 
topic  tempts  to  routine  thought  and  to  imitative  writ- 
ing. 

Nevertheless,  writing  for  the  technical  press  in- 
volves most  careful  and  painstaking  effort.  It  will  not 
do  to  make  a  mistake.  Some  of  the  accomplishments  to 
be  desired  in  the  writer  are  indicated  in  an  address  de- 
livered by  Mr.  Charles  W.  Price,  editor  of  the  Electrical 
Review: 

Accuracy  in  technical  statements  and  simplicity  of  lan- 
guage are  two  elements  of  greatness  and  distinction  in 
technical  journalism.  It  is  not  always  easy  for  the  abun- 
dantly informed  technical  writer  to  present  his  scientific 
truths  in  simple  limpid  language  to  be  comprehended  by  and 
thus  delight  and  enlighten  the  average  reader.  I  am  now 
referring  to  editorial  treatment  of  such  subjects,  and  not 
of  course  to  those  technical  contributions  in  which  mathe- 
matical figures  necessarily  must  appear.  The  editor  or 
technical  writer  who  can  present  scientific  reasoning  and  its 
practical  application  accurately  and  simply  without  the 
aid  of  his  algebra,  is  assured  of  the  largest  possible  audience, 
and  is  the  producer  of  the  greatest  influence  and  informa- 
tion. He  is,  besides,  popular  in  technical  publishing  circles. 

Another  element  of  greatness  is  a  practical  illuminating 
presentation  of  what  an  invention  in  the  field  of  which  that 
publication  is  the  exponent,  really  means  to  the  art  to  which 
it  relates;  that  when  an  invention  of  importance  is  an- 
nounced, it  be  told  just  what  it  would  mean  and  how  it 


118       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

might  or  will  affect  the  art  or  the  industry.  But  the  tech- 
nical writers  who  can  state  a  scientific  fact  in  a  few  words 
and  with  crystal  clearness  are  not  very  numerous. 

The  electrical  reviews  may  be  mentioned  as  a  fair 
example  of  technical  journalism.  They  are  large  pub- 
lications of  a  hundred  pages  or  so,  half  of  which  are 
given  to  advertisements  of  every  electrical  apparatus  or 
machine  known  to  man.  The  electricians  do  not  ad- 
vertise in  the  daily  newspapers,  nor  do  the  newspapers 
print  the  news  of  the  electrical  business  except  when 
some  big  discovery  is  made.  No  way  exists,  therefore, 
for  the  electrician  to  know  what  is  going  on  in  his 
business  except  through  an  electrical  review.  There  he 
gets  not  only  every  treasure  of  discovery,  but  every 
flash,  every  twinkle  of  the  business  as  well.  He  may 
learn  what  all  the  electric  societies  are  doing  in  all 
parts  of  the  world.  He  may  read  the  lectures  on  elec- 
trical subjects  delivered  by  experts.  He  may  be  told 
just  what  the  great  electrical  companies  are  doing, 
what  new  construction  they  are  planning  or  finishing. 
It  is  a  constantly  growing  and  changing  business  with 
every  day  new  application  of  old  discoveries  as  well 
as  new  ones.  He  simply  cannot  be  without  an  electrical 
review. 

In  New  York  City  are  forty-five  publications  de- 
voted to  drugs,  medicine  and  surgery.  Many  of  them 
are  for  the  drug  trade  only  and  others  are  highly  in- 
tellectual reviews  of  progress  and  practice  in  medical 
science.  They  are  little  read  except  by  physicians, 
surgeons  and  druggists ;  but  of  late  years,  so  bewilder- 


THE   TECHNICAL   PRESS  119 

ingly  fascinating  have  been  their  disclosure  of  medical 
discovery  and  progress  and  so  absorbing  their  illustra- 
tions of  surgical  skill,  the  daily  newspaper  editors  have 
been  compelled  to  read  them  searchingly  for  the  news 
they  contain,  and  they  have  been  generously  quoted 
in  the  daily  press.  The  medical  press  exploits  all  that 
is  new  in  surgery  or  practice,  gives  elaborate  reports 
of  medical  society  discussions,  descriptions  of  unique 
surgical  operations,  new  uses  of  drugs.  It  digs  up 
everything  all  over  this  earth  that  possibly  could  inter- 
est a  practitioner.  Obviously  the  physician  or  sur- 
geon who  doesn't  read  the  medical  literature  of  the  day 
is  miles  behind  the  times. 

Even  the  newspaper  business  has  its  trade  journals, 
and  one  of  them,  The  Fourth  Estate,  was  saying  the 
other  day  that  between  seven  thousand  and  seven  thou- 
sand five  hundred  persons  are  actively  engaged  in  writ- 
ing for  the  New  York  City  press;  and  that  thirty-five 
thousand  are  similarly  employed  in  the  United  States. 

It  is  quite  impossible,  in  this  space,  to  describe  these 
miscellaneous  and  class  publications.  They  are  num- 
bered by  thousands.  In  New  York  City  are  more  than 
one  hundred  literary  magazines  and  weeklies.  A  recent 
tabulation  attested  that  in  the  United  States  more 
than  eight  hundred  publications  are  devoted  to  religion, 
of  which  about  one  hundred  are  printed  in  New  York. 
Six  hundred  are  issued  to  tell  the  farmer  how  to  till. 
Eighty  exploit  automobiles.  How  to  fly  is  told  by  six 
sheets.  The  mouthpieces  of  the  barbers  number  four 
and  the  blind  may  learn  about  themselves  in  eleven. 


120       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

Eighteen  appear  regularly  in  the  interest  of  the  Ameri- 
can Indian,  and  six  for  bees.  More  than  six  hundred 
tell  about  schools  and  colleges;  twenty  about  dogs; 
twelve  about  confections  and  ice-cream ;  twenty-three  of 
dentistry;  twenty-six  of  the  theater;  fifty  of  fashion; 
ninety  of  finance,  of  which  thirty  are  in  New  York.  The 
grocers  support  eighty  odd  and  the  insurance  men 
sixty-seven,  while  two  hundred  and  fifty  are  in  the  in- 
terest of  labor.  We  find  devoted  to  law  one  hundred 
and  fifty ;  to  liquor  twenty-seven ;  mechanics  and  en- 
gineering sixty-five;  moving  pictures  twenty;  music 
trade  fifty-four ;  the  negro  about  two  hundred ;  poultry 
eighty-five;  soap  and  perfume  three;  sports  seventy; 
women  suffrage  seven;  undertakers  ten.  One  of  the 
newspaper  directories  recently  gave  a  list  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  trades  or  businesses  each  of  which 
has  its  own  technical  publications. 

The  trade  papers  have  come  to  form  a  very  im- 
portant and  conspicuous  part  of  American  journalism. 
Their  writers  may  not  be  so  well  known  to  fame  as  are 
other  authors,  but  they  have  better  business  oppor- 
tunities. Their  expert  knowledge  of  the  business  un- 
der consideration  and  the  acquaintances  they  neces- 
sarily form  with  the  kings  of  that  business,  frequently 
lead  to  advantageous  offers  to  engage  in  business.  A 
larger  proportion  of  the  technical  press  men  quit  writ- 
ing to  do  other  work  than  is  noted  in  any  other  line 
of  journalism. 

The  business  of  furnishing  information  about  busi- 
ness has  become  a  great  industry  in  itself.  It  has  de- 


THE  TECHNICAL   PRESS  121 

veloped  amazingly  within  a  few  years,  chiefly  through 
the  technical  journals  or  magazines,  the  number  of 
which  has  increased  greatly,  but  also  through  books 
and  pamphlets. 

The  big  banks  have  their  business  libraries  totalling 
thousands  of  volumes,  covering  endless  topics  relat- 
ing to  railroads,  corporations,  specific  business,  systems 
and  methods.  They  preserve  newspaper  clippings  in  be- 
wildering numbers.  The  bureau  of  information  is  con- 
spicuous in  all  big  business  bouses  and  corporations 
and  all  the  literature  of  business  is  at  hand.  Every 
Wall  Street  brokerage  house  of  any  account  employs 
a  man  to  furnish  information  to  customers. 

The  great  war  so  effectively  restricted  importation 
that  the  country  was  largely  thrown  on  its  own  re- 
sources. It  was  compelled  to  produce  or  furnish  sub- 
stitute matter  for  many  products  it  could  not  import. 
Business  facts  became  greatly  in  demand.  The  li- 
brarians reported,  and  continue  to  note,  a  greatly  in- 
creased demand  for  business  literature.  The  book 
publishers  recognize  an  increasing  devouring  public  ap- 
petite for  business  books.  The  managers  of  business 
journals  and  magazines  tell  of  largely  increasing  cir- 
culations in  this  period  of  great  business  expansion. 

One  of  the  managers  of  the  System  magazine  series 
said  not  long  ago : 

The  demand  for  our  publications  has  increased  tremen- 
dously since  the  war.  In  the  last  three  years  one  of  our 
magazines  has  increased  sixty  per  cent  in  circulation. 
Blame  Germany  for  that,  and  for  the  big  increase  in  business 


122       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

literature.  We  have  learned  suddenly  that  German  business 
has  been  studying  books  all  these  years.  We  find  now  that 
to  compete,  American  business  must  also  take  to  books.  And 
that  has  brought  about  one  big  difference.  A  few  years 
ago  when  I  left  college  to  go  into  business,  my  employers 
encouraged  me  with,  "Well,  you'll  live  down  your  college 
training."  To-day,  a  big  business  man  does  more  reading 
than  a  student  in  college — and  he  has  to  do  it. 

Technical  journalism  is  a  great  feature  of  the  jour- 
nalism of  the  times.  Its  importance  is  little  appreciated 
or  understood  by  the  general  public.  It  gives  employ- 
ment to  thousands  of  writers  and  its  rapid  increase  in- 
dicates demand  for  thousands  more. 

Trained  newspapermen  are  in  active  demand  as  pub- 
licity and  general  aids  by  big  corporations.  The  sal- 
aries paid  are  larger  than  is  paid  by  newspapers.  These 
men  usually  oversee  the  advertising;  likewise  they  write 
pamphlets,  collect  information  for  the  use  of  the  cor- 
poration, frequently  prepare  speeches  for  delivery  by 
the  officers,  make  out  reports,  read  many  publications 
for  any  information  bearing  on  the  business.  The  work 
requires  fine  editorial  ability  and  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  business.  It  is  far  above  the  press  agent  work 
done  to  advertise  theaters,  moving  pictures,  or  hotels. 
It  involves  a  study  of  the  principles  and  condition  of 
other  business  besides  their  own,  for  in  many  instances 
their  own  business  is  affected  by  the  business  of  others. 
The  literature  of  business  has  become  very  important. 

Accuracy  is  the  supreme  requirement  in  business 
writing.  A  single  misstatement  may  involve  a  loss  of 


THE  TECHNICAL   PRESS  123 

confidence  in  the  writer  or  the  publication — a  loss  of 
money  to  the  reader.  Simple  construction  in  the  plain- 
est of  language  is  the  rule  for  writing. 

Demand  for  the  literature  of  business  has  made 
startling  changes  in  the  newspapers  of  to-day,  affect- 
ing daily  sheets  as  well  as  all  journalism.  Ten  times 
as  much  space  is  given  to  market  reports  as  was  used 
forty  years  ago.  Business  news  is  lavishly  exploited. 
It  was  little  noticed  in  the  old  days. 

It  is  a  business  age.  The  educational  impulse  of 
school  and  college  is  in  the  direction  of  business  educa- 
tion rather  than  classical  or  general  education.  Tech- 
nical schools  are  much  more  popular.  Business  schools 
are  conducted  by  large  corporations,  by  banks,  by 
chambers  of  commerce.  Banks,  insurance  companies, 
the  railroad  organizations,  and  big  business  concerns 
maintain  statistical  and  information  departments  and 
publish  pamphlets  and  periodical  literature.  Men  com- 
petent to  produce  information  are  in  demand  and 
those  of  newspaper  experience  are  preferred. 

Publishers  are  putting  out  an  avalanche  of  books 
on  every  phase  of  business.  The  demand  for  books  of 
reference,  books  of  the  practical,  in  our  libraries  is 
overwhelming.  Reports  of  the  New  York  Public 
Library  attest  that  seekers  after  books  of  technical  in- 
formation are  numbered  by  hundreds  of  thousands. 

Nearly  all  of  the  men  who  are  furnishing  this  greatly 
increased  volume  of  business  information  have  had  daily 
newspaper  office  experience.  In  looking  through  the 
lists  of  technical  journals  printed  in  New  York  I  see 


124      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

the  names  of  dozens  of  men  as  their  editors  whom  I 
recognize  as  former  daily  newspaper  men.  They  now 
have  permanent  and  responsible  posts  at  reasonably 
remunerative  salaries.  The  work  is  not  so  continuously 
exacting  as  that  required  in  the  minor  places  in  the 
newspaper.  The  hours  of  toil  are  shorter,  are  in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  and  are  omitted  on  holidays  and 
Sundays.  These  are  important  considerations  to  the 
man  who  elects  to  live  by  writing  information. 


CHAPTER  VIH 

THE  VILLAGE  NEWSPAPER'S  IMPORTANT 
PLACE  IN  AMERICAN  JOURNALISM 

THE  young  man  about  to  start  on  a  journalistic 
career  should  give  long  thought  to  the  village  news- 
paper. Our  schools  of  journalism  are  graduating 
thousands  of  boys  who  intend  to  be  editors.  A  few 
of  them  only  can  be  taken  on  the  big  newspapers  for 
their  staffs  are  full  to  overflowing  always.  It  is  diffi- 
cult, indeed,  for  a  young  man  to  get  a  place  on  a 
big  city  newspaper  and  the  prizes  are  few  if  he  does 
get  it.  Let  us  see  what  the  small  town  newspaper 
offers. 

In  the  big  cities  nearly  all  writers  are  employees.  The 
managing  editor  is  employed  to  direct  the  staff  and 
to  carry  out  the  owners'  policies.  Editorial  writers 
are  employed  to  write.  They  have  no  pecuniary  inter- 
est in  the  property.  In  small  cities  the  editors  are  part 
owners  frequently;  in  the  villages  they  are  the  full 
owners  almost  always. 

For  the  so-called  great  newspaper  the  staff  writes 
to  order.  The  subjects  are  assigned  and  the  treat- 
ment is  indicated  by  the  editor.  The  policy  of  the  sheet 
toward  the  important  questions  of  the  day  is  under- 

125 


126      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

stood  and  respected  by  all.  Independence  of  thought 
is  not  supposed  or  permitted  to  disport  itself  from 
that  policy.  All  articles  are  closely  revised  by  some 
one  else  after  the  writer  has  finished  with  them.  They 
are  made  to  conform  to  established  policy,  precedent 
and  practice.  This  tends  to  routine  treatment  rather 
than  to  bursts  of  originality.  It  influences  to  dull 
writing.  The  knowledge  that  his  work  is  to  be  revised 
is  repressive  rather  than  stimulating  to  the  writer.  If 
changes  in  his  article  are  frequent  he  chafes  and  frets, 
imagines  that  injustice  is  being  done  to  him,  gets  dis- 
couraged and  unhappy. 

The  personality  of  the  general  writers  for  the  press 
in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  is  known  to  a  few 
of  their  associates  only — is  unknown  to  the  general 
public.  Indeed,  it  would  puzzle  even  newspaper  men 
to  name  the  editors  in  chief  and  the  managing  editors 
of  the  morning  and  afternoon  sheets  in  New  York 
City,  although  many  of  them,  of  course,  are  known  to 
almost  everybody. 

In  the  small  cities,  and  especially  in  the  villages,  these 
conditions  are  in  exact  reverse.  The  editor  owns  his 
newspaper.  He  is  known  personally  or  by  reputation 
to  almost  every  member  of  the  community.  He  may 
write  as  he  pleases  on  any  topic,  about  anything,  about 
anybody.  He  may  praise  his  friends  or  lambaste  his 
enemies;  may  be  brilliantly  original  or  stupidly  con- 
servative or  hopelessly  imitative.  He  is  of  great  com- 
munity influence  and  importance.  Not  even  the  vil- 
lage clergyman  is  more  so.  He  is  made  much  of  at 


THE  VILLAGE  NEWSPAPER  127 

all  gatherings  and  is  welcomed  wherever  he  goes.  The 
huntsman  brings  him  bags  of  game;  the  gardener  re- 
freshes him  with  the  earliest  tender  vegetables;  his 
table  is  spread  with  the  choicest  of  juicy  fruits. 

The  writers  for  the  big  newspapers  discourse  on 
topics  of  national  importance — topics  that  are  sup- 
posed to  interest  the  masses.  Rarely  do  they  write 
about  people  they  know  or  have  met  unless  they  are 
doing  reportorial  work.  The  village  editor  busies  him- 
self chiefly  with  matters  of  concern  to  his  community 
alone.  His  references  to  national  topics  may  be  few. 
Of  his  own  people  he  may  write  with  a  sympathetic  per- 
sonal interest  born  of  close  contact  with  them,  with 
knowledge  of  their  whims,  their  excellences,  their  de- 
ficiencies, and  their  wants.  His  purpose  is  to  interest 
them.  He  knows  that  they  are  more  interested  in  them- 
selves and  in  each  other  than  in  anything  else. 

A  considerable  proportion  of  village  folks  and  farm- 
ers now  take  a  daily  paper  from  the  nearest  city  of 
size.  This  daily  sheet  covers  national  and  world-wide 
topics  so  completely  that  the  weekly  cannot  compete 
with  it  advantageously  in  these  lines.  But  the  daily 
sheet  cannot  compete  with  the  weekly  in  the  printing 
of  those  delicious  little  intimacies  of  village  life  that 
most  of  all  do  interest  the  villager.  The  oft  repeated 
assertion  that  the  daily  newspaper  is  running  out  the 
weekly  is  untrue. 

If  the  village  editor  chooses  to  do  so  he  may  achieve 
a  supremely  satisfying  influence.  He  is  the  spokesman 
of  the  community,  voicing  its  sentiments,  explaining  its 


128      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOUKNALISM 

needs,  defending  its  rights.  He  may  render  it  ex- 
treme service  by  appealing  to  outside  interests  in  praise 
of  its  enterprises,  its  attractions,  its  prosperity.  He 
may  assist  it  immeasurably  by  helping  to  organize  and 
sustain  its  protective  associations,  its  commercial 
leagues,  its  welfare  organizations,  study  clubs  and  char- 
ity circles.  He  may  encourage  community  pride.  If 
he  praises  Deacon  Stevenson  for  the  beauty  of  his 
lawn  and  floral  effects  the  deacon's  neighbors  are  sure 
to  make  rival  lawns.  The  editor  may  urge  to  clean 
village  morals  as  well  as  to  clean  streets  and  tidy  door 
yards.  He  may  create  public  sentiment  and  ripen  pa- 
triotic spirit  and  be  the  moral  and  the  intellectual  force 
of  the  region.  He  may  lead  in  all  things. 

The  village  editor  may  make  himself  beloved  by  his 
people.  His  relation  to  them  is  that  of  close  in- 
timacy. He  may  print  the  good  things  they  say,  may 
reproduce  their  ideas  as  well  as  describe  their  doings. 
He  records  the  important  events  of  their  lives,  the 
details  of  their  successes,  the  parts  they  take  in  pub- 
lic affairs. 

He  welcomes  the  babies  as  they  are  born  and  wishes 
them  their  full  share  of  all  the  good  things  this  Jolly 
Old  Earth  has  to  give.  He  joins  in  congratulations, 
felicitations  and  joyful  vociferations  to  bewildered 
brides  and  grinning  bridegrooms.  And  when  the  hand 
of  death  is  laid,  he  reverently  and  tenderly  recalls 
that  the  summons  must  come  to  all  sometime;  and  he 
sorrows  and  grieves  with  those  on  whom  affliction  has 
fallen. 


THE  VILLAGE  NEWSPAPER  129 

The  city  newspaper  is  heartless  when  domestic  scan- 
dals or  business  irregularities  are  under  public  con- 
sideration. It  has  no  thought  of  lessening  personal 
sorrow.  The  country  editor  reasons  something  like 
this:  "I  do  not  pretend  to  print  all  the  news  of  this 
community.  My  readers  are  all  known  to  me  and  are 
personal  friends.  They  help  me  in  my  business.  Why 
should  I  print  stuff  that  will  give  them  pain  or  sorrow? 
I  am  under  no  obligation  to  print  anything  about  any- 
body. My  newspaper  is  conducted  as  a  business  prop- 
osition. I  am  responsible  for  what  it  says  and  it  is  not 
any  one's  business  what  I  print.  I  am  personally  in- 
terested in  community  interests  and  I  wish  to  ad- 
vance them  always ;  but  I  do  not  care  to  mix  in  my  peo- 
ple's personal  quarrels  or  their  domestic  affairs  unless 
community  interests  are  involved.  Why  should  I  ?  Some 
people  seem  to  think  that  I  should  print  everything 
about  everybody — except  themselves.  There  is  a  cer- 
tain element  in  every  community  that  rejoices  in  other 
people's  discomfiture  and  I  do  not  wish  to  cater  to 
that  feeling." 

Not  only  does  every  one  in  the  community  read  the 
community  paper,  but  every  young  man  and  every 
young  woman  brought  up  there  subscribe  for  it  when 
going  to  live  elsewhere.  It  comes  as  an  intimate 
letter  from  the  old  home,  and  nothing  can  be  too  trivial 
or  too  unimportant  to  interest  them  so  long  as  it  re- 
lates to  somebody  or  something  they  have  known  in 
the  days  of  their  youth — the  bursting  of  the  old  dam, 
the  fall  of  the  old  chimney,  the  burning  of  the  old 


130       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

academy,  or  of  the  old  mill,  the  marriages,  the  deaths, 
the  activities  of  former  playmates  in  political,  business 
or  social  life,  anything  pertaining  to  the  old  home 
town,  anything  that  recalls  the  scenes  of  childhood,  the 
memories  of  youth — all  are  of  absorbing  interest. 

Not  long  ago  the  editor  of  the  Fulton  (N.  Y.) 
Patriot  made  a  big  hit  by  getting  a  lot  of  the  people 
who  had  moved  away  to  write  reminiscences  of  their 
early  life  in  Fulton.  Almost  all  of  the  writers  were 
remembered  by  the  home  readers  and  the  letters  made 
much  talk.  Every  error  was  pounced  on  and  letters 
of  correction  started  controversy.  People  involved  in 
the  talk  were  pleased.  Members  of  the  human  family 
like  to  see  their  names  in  the  newspapers. 

But  the  editor  should  have  ambitions  and  missions 
far  beyond  mere  village  gossip.  The  small  towns 
of  the  Eastern  states  have  become  centers  in  which  end- 
less varieties  of  manufactured  goods  are  turned  out, 
and  it  is  up  to  the  editor  to  exploit  every  new  thing 
connected  with  the  raw  material  and  with  the  making 
and  the  marketing  of  the  product  in  which  the  com- 
munity is  interested.  The  middle-state  towns  are  given 
largely  to  manufacturing  on  a  larger  scale,  to  coal  and 
coke  and  oil  industries,  to  steel,  to  the  making  of 
machinery.  The  editor  should  furnish  all  possible  in- 
formation. The  South  with  its  cotton,  sugar,  and  to- 
bacco is  an  especially  interesting  field  for  community 
specializing. 

But  greater  than  these  is  that  vast  industry  spread- 
ing from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  in  which  one  half 


THE  VILLAGE   NEWSPAPER  131 

of  the  nation's  population  is  interested  because  de- 
pendent on  it — agriculture.  Now,  of  the  sixteen  thou- 
sand weekly  newspapers  printed  in  the  United  States 
more  than  ten  thousand  are  published  in  rural  com- 
munities— in  villages  where  the  prosperity  of  doctors, 
lawyers,  merchants,  tradesmen,  schools  and  churches 
depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the  farmer.  Nearly  every 
farmer  takes  a  journal  devoted  to  agriculture;  but 
farming  conditions  vary  greatly  in  different  regions, 
and  the  village  editor  who  can  furnish  real  information 
to  the  farmer  of  his  immediate  neighborhood  will  per- 
form the  most  valuable  sort  of  community  service.  The 
average  man  is  more  interested  in  his  business  than 
in  anything  else.  He  delights  to  read  about  it. 

The  editor's  greatest  concern  should  be  to  serve  the 
interests  of  his  parish.  The  people  look  to  him  for 
leadership  and  help.  They  want  the  community  ex- 
ploited. They  want  their  share  of  everything  going. 
They  want  the  prices  of  their  products  kept  up  and 
their  taxes  kept  down.  They  want  good  roads,  good 
schools,  good  markets,  attractive  churches.  And  they 
appreciate  an  excellent  newspaper.  There  are  hun- 
dreds of  villages  and  hamlets,  especially  in  the  South 
and  in  the  West,  that  are  far  removed  from  any  large 
city.  Their  inhabitants  lose  interest  in  the  doings 
of  the  great  outside  world,  but  their  own  needs  are 
sensed  with  no  shallow  understanding. 

Village  life  throughout  our  country  is  taking  on  the 
attractions  of  intellectual  uplift  and  refinement  that 
long  have  been  the  pride  and  the  boast  of  New  Eng- 


132       THE   YOUNG   MAN    AND   JOURNALISM 

land  communities.  The  New  England  village,  made  at- 
tractive by  its  imitation  of  the  beautiful  village  of 
Old  England,  has  spread  far  across  the  continent. 
Poets  and  story  tellers  have  idealized  its  shady  streets, 
gilded  its  church  spires  and  praised  its  intelligence 
with  every  felicity  of  language.  It  has  its  libraries, 
its  study  clubs,  its  improvement  associations,  its  lec- 
ture courses,  its  high  schools,  its  churches,  its  every 
facility  for  liberal  education.  Usually  there  is  a  col- 
lege close  at  hand. 

It  is  something  of  a  fad  at  the  moment  for  our 
young  writers  of  novels  to  exaggerate  the  repulsive 
features  of  the  American  village,  to  magnify  its  un- 
pleasant aspects,  to  ignore  its  excellences.  But  just 
as  the  measure  of  a  man's  greatness  should  rest  on  his 
highest  achievements  rather  than  on  his  lowest,  so 
should  the  beauty  of  a  village  be  judged  by  its  tidy 
lawns,  its  fragrant  flower  gardens,  its  artistic  vistas 
of  shaded  streets,  instead  of  by  its  back  yards,  its  ash 
and  garbage  heaps,  and  its  dumps  for  old  tin  cans. 
The  degree  of  its  intelligence  and  refinement  should 
include  the  people  of  education  and  culture  in  the 
measurement  as  well  as  the  louts,  the  clowns  and  the 
vulgar  ignorant. 

The  modern  village  has  many  of  the  essential  ad- 
vantages possessed  by  the  city:  facilities  for  the  de- 
velopment of  intellectual  life,  for  study,  for  personal 
ease  and  comfort,  for  the  enjoyment  of  social  life. 
You  have  a  more  wholesome  existence;  live  a  little 
nearer  to  nature;  your  friendships  are  finer  and  more 


THE  VILLAGE  NEWSPAPER  133 

lasting.  Your  very  environment  persuades  to  a  greater 
appreciation  of  community  comradeship. 

Printing  a  newspaper  here  offers  a  fascinating  and 
a  fairly  profitable  career  to  the  young  man  just  quit- 
ting his  studies.  Electricity  and  gasoline  have  greatly 
increased  the  pleasures  of  village  life,  have  literally 
transformed  rural  regions  by  giving  quick  communica- 
tion with  business  and  social  and  intellectual  centers. 
Modern  devices  have  bereft  life  there  of  much  of  its 
old-time  drudgery.  The  people  are  wide  awake.  Their 
general  intelligence  is  quite  equal  to  the  general  in- 
telligence of  city  people. 

Likewise,  the  newspapers  are  much  improved.  Mod- 
ern printing  machinery  and  facilities  have  removed 
irksome  processes.  Editorial  associations  and  the  tech- 
nical newspaper  press  have  inspired  to  higher  ideals. 
The  business  has  become  standardized  on  a  higher  plane 
of  excellence.  Many  of  our  high  schools  and  almost 
all  of  our  colleges  have  courses  in  journalism.  Their 
educational  influences  are  reflected  already  in  the 
country  newspapers,  especially  in  the  West.  The  state 
universities  of  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Minnesota,  for 
instance,  have  sent  hundreds  of  young  men  back  to 
their  villages  to  do  journalistic  work.  The  leaven  of 
preparation  is  working  wonders. 

Moreover,  success  in  village  or  small  town  journalism 
frequently  leads  to  success  in  big  cities.  The  editors 
of  big  city  newspapers  are  overwhelmed  with  candi- 
dates for  a  place  on  the  staff,  but  the  applicants  usually 
are  unknown  beginners,  and  they  are  rejected.  But 


134       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

the  village  editor  of  real  ability  cannot  hide  his  light; 
his  good  work  attracts  attention.  The  managers  of  the 
great  journals  seek  men  of  superior  quality  and  ask 
them  to  join  the  newspaper  staff.  Hundreds  of  the 
finest  editors  in  this  country  started  or  matured  on  our 
rural  newspapers.  Good  newspaper  work,  whether  in 
city  or  country,  attracts  attention  and  is  sure  of 
reward. 

The  village  editor's  task  is  not  easy.  He  writes  al- 
most all  of  the  edition  and  conducts  the  business  end 
as  well.  His  editorial  page  may  reflect  his  fancy  for 
little  or  much  comment,  but  he  naturally  will  have  one 
article  in  each  edition  on  a  subject  of  national  im- 
portance and  two  or  three  relating  to  community  in- 
terests. He  will  compile  from  the  daily  sheets  a  col- 
umn or  two  of  the  most  important  news  of  the  world 
and  will  clip  from  the  exchanges  interesting  miscellane- 
ous matter,  paragraphs  and  articles.  He  will  en- 
courage his  readers  to  write  letters  to  the  editor  for 
publication,  and  these  he  will  revise  and  prepare.  He 
will  have  a  news  correspondent  in  every  neighboring 
hamlet,  and  this  news  must  be  revised  and  made  ready 
to  print.  His  neighborhood  news  is  of  vital  importance 
for  his  villagers  know  almost  all  of  the  inhabitants 
for  miles  around. 

But  his  chief  task  is  to  be  found  in  the  collecting 
and  writing  of  so-called  local  news.  The  very  life  of 
his  sheet  depends  on  this  information.  To  gather  it 
involves  constant,  painstaking  toil.  He  has  to  hunt  for 
it,  has  to  mingle  with  the  people  in  the  search  for  it. 


THE  VILLAGE   NEWSPAPER  135 

The  measure  of  his  success  as  an  editor  may  be  found 
in  his  ability  to  recognize  what  is  news  and  what  is  not. 
This  is  an  editorial  accomplishment  that  may  be  en- 
riched by  study  and  observation.  Let  him  seek  to 
know  what  will  interest  his  reader,  what  his  con- 
stituents are  thinking  about  and  especially  what  he 
can  print  that  will  set  them  to  talking.  To  make 
the  paper  interesting,  to  make  it  talked  about,  should 
be  his  constant  anxiety. 

The  mission  of  the  village  sheet  is  to  amuse,  to  gos- 
sip, to  reflect  community  life  rather  than  to  educate. 
The  editor  lives  in  close  intimacy  with  his  people  and 
if  he  be  wise  he  will  assume  the  attitude  of  making 
their  interests  his  interests.  He  will  make  elaborately 
long  accounts  of  their  public  meetings,  the  social  gath- 
erings, the  ball  games,  the  school  contests,  the  things 
the  people  do.  His  constituents  may  know  of  world-wide 
events  from  the  city  papers  but  they  cannot  read  about 
themselves  anywhere  else  than  in  his  paper.  Thou- 
sands of  Americans  never  see  their  name  in  print  ex- 
cept perchance  in  the  village  newspaper  and  they  are 
grateful,  indeed,  to  see  it  there. 

The  village  newspaper  should  not  seek  to  imitate  the 
city  sheet.  Its  editor  should  devote  his  energies  to 
the  rural  needs  and  the  rural  activities  of  his  five  thou- 
sand or  ten  thousand  constituents.  Let  them  get  their 
outside  information  from  the  city  dailies  or  the  peri- 
odical press. 

And  our  provincial  editor's  acute  temptation  will  be 
to  imitate — to  make  his  sheet  like  his  neighbor's  sheet. 


136      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

He  will  be  tempted  to  save  time  and  study  by  steal- 
ing the  thoughts  of  others.  He  wants  a  leading  edi- 
torial article.  What  so  easy  as  to  rewrite  one  from 
the  columns  of  a  distant  daily  changing  not  the  form 
of  construction  or  the  argument  or  the  conclusion — 
changing  nothing  but  the  wording.  This  is  a  common 
practice  of  the  lazy  editor.  I  hope  to  be  forgiven  for 
so  constantly  referring  to  it  as  a  repressive  influence, 
as  a  serious  detriment  to  the  progress  of  American 
journalism.  It  easily  becomes  a  habit.  Its  practice 
is  alluring  for,  if  it  produces  a  more  thoughtful  article 
than  the  editor  is  capable  of  writing,  the  people  praise 
it  thus  giving  to  the  editor  the  most  subtle  of  all  flat- 
tery, the  flattery  that  is  undeserved,  the  flattery  that 
attributes  to  a  man  something  he  does  not  possess.  The 
editor  enjoys  it  overmuch. 

The  village  editor  usually  is  deep  in  local  politics. 
Quite  as  much  as  any  one  else  does  he  help  to  name 
the  town  officers,  the  county  rulers,  the  man  to  the 
legislature,  the  congressman.  Frequently,  indeed,  he  is 
called  to  these  posts  or  to  the  higher  honors  of  the 
State.  He  sits  on  governing  boards  and  he  is  a  dele- 
gate to  all  sorts  of  conventions.  He  is  big  in  public 
affairs. 

This  kind  of  newspaper  life  is  entirely  different  from 
that  of  the  city.  It  is  a  life  that  may  be  made  ex- 
ceedingly attractive  and  that  may  be  enjoyed  to  the 
uttermost  because  of  its  independence,  its  great  in- 
fluence, its  close  intimacy  with  the  people  and  its  op- 
portunities for  wholesome  service.  What  the  editor 


THE  VILLAGE  NEWSPAPER  137 

writes  is  read  by  everybody,  the  children  as  well,  and 
we  all  know  how  a  child  is  influenced  by  what  it  reads. 
Some  one  has  said  of  the  village  editor:   "He  comes 
pretty  near  being  the  boss  of  the  entire  town." 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  DAILY  NEWSPAPER  IN  THE 
SMALL  CITY 

"I  HAD  rather  be  the  editor  of  a  daily  in  a  small 
city  than  hold  any  other  newspaper  post,"  remarked 
a  journalist  who  had  tried  almost  every  kind  of  news- 
paper work — and  many  will  agree  with  him.  Increased 
facilities  for  gathering  news  and  information  and  the 
wonderful  improvement  in  printing  office  mechanism 
permit  the  making  of  a  complete  newspaper  almost 
anywhere.  The  small  cities  may  have  just  as  good 
a  daily  sheet  as  the  big  ones  if  the  owners  care  to  pay 
the  price  of  producing  it.  The  news  associations  and 
the  telegraph  companies  deliver  news  simultaneously 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  newspaper  in  the  re- 
mote Northwest  or  the  extreme  South  gets  the  same 
telegraphic  news  as  is  furnished  to  New  York  City  or 
to  New  England. 

Any  editor  may  supplement  his  news  service  with 
syndicate  articles — by  which  is  meant,  articles  written 
in  New  York,  Washington,  the  State  Capital,  or  any- 
where, and  duplicated  to  any  number  of  newspapers. 
Syndicate  service  has  come  to  be  an  important  feature 
of  American  journalism.  Its  use  saves  the  editor  time, 
trouble,  and  expense.  A  few  syndicates  in  New  York 

138 


THE  SMALL   CITY  DAILY  139 

and  Washington  send  special  news  by  wire  but  most 
of  the  matter  goes  by  mail.  It  consists  largely  of  arti- 
cles on  national  topics,  social  topics,  business,  the 
theaters,  music,  art,  and  sports.  At  this  writing  a 
syndicate  is  sending  from  New  York  a  service  of  ex- 
cellent editorial  articles  on  general  topics.  All  sorts  of 
feature  matter  also  may  be  had:  the  medical  column,' 
the  cookery  department,  the  fashion  show,  the  question 
and  answer  diversion,  the  short  daily  or  weekly  story 
of  fiction,  a  daily  cartoon  or  a  comic  strip  or  cut.  En- 
tire pages  of  matter  are  offered  on  every  imaginable 
topic  for  use  in  Saturday  and  Sunday  edition  supple- 
ments. They  include  even  the  comic  pictorial  broad- 
sides in  vivid  color.  Several  of  the  big  metropolitan 
sheets  sell  their  miscellaneous  Sunday  features  entire 
and  some  of  them  furnish  a  special  news  service  in- 
tended to  supplement  the  news  associations*  report. 
This  news  service  and  Sunday  syndicate  service  sent 
from  the  big  newspapers  furnish  the  identical  arti- 
cles that  appear  in  the  papers  from  whose  offices  they 
are  sent.  By  their  use  the  out  of  town  editor  may 
go  a  great  way  toward  reproducing  the  big  city  sheet. 
All  of  this  kind  of  matter  is  offered  at  ridiculously  low 
prices,  the  profit  to  the  producer  being,  of  course,  in 
its  repeated  duplication. 

The  modern  multiple  printing  press,  the  modern 
stereotyping  process  and  the  linotype  typesetting  ma- 
chine are  in  general  use  all  over  the  country,  giving 
the  same  mechanical  facilities  as  enjoyed  in  the  larger 
cities. 


140       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

By  availing  himself  of  all  these  things  the  editor 
in  the  small  city  may  produce  a  newspaper  of  any 
size  and  almost  any  quality  to  suit  his  fancy.  In 
all  matters  of  national  or  state  importance  or  of  world- 
wide interest  he  may  reasonably  compete  with  the 
big  newspapers  if  he  cares  to  spend  the  money  with 
which  to  do  so. 

The  chief  concern  of  the  provincial  editor  however 
will  center  in  his  organization  for  the  collection  of 
home  and  neighborhood  news.  This  must  be  of  su- 
perior quality  and  in  generous  volume,  for  his  so-called 
"local"  news  is  vital  to  his  success. 

In  New  York  City  there  is  practically  no  such  thing 
as  local  news.  Happenings  of  considerable  importance 
are  not  printed  simply  because  they  happened  in  New 
York.  They  must  possess  enough  of  importance  in 
themselves  to  interest  a  large  number  of  readers,  must 
be  just  as  interesting  to  outsiders  as  to  residents  of 
the  city.  Scores  of  big  societies  and  organizations  give 
banquets  with  three  hours  of  oratory  and  reporters 
listening  to  every  word,  but  unless  something  important 
or  highly  interesting  is  said  by  the  speakers  the  news- 
papers print  not  a  word  about  the  event.  An  ordinary 
murder,  or  suicide,  or  elopement,  or  a  celebration  like 
that  of  a  golden  wedding,  even  though  it  may  have 
happened  in  the  next  block  to  where  he  lives  does  not 
interest  a  New  Yorker  any  more  than  as  though  it  had 
happened  in  Boston  or  Buffalo.  He  does  not  know 
the  persons  involved.  The  newspapers  make  very  little 
of  the  event  unless  it  has  some  dramatic  features. 


THE   SMALL   CITY   DAILY 

In  New  York  City  there  are  between  two  hundred  and 
fifty  and  three  hundred  homicides  every  year  and  not 
one  half  of  them  are  even  mentioned  by  the  press.  The 
details  of  them  are  known  in  every  office  but  little  is 
printed  about  them  because  they  are  not  of  general 
interest. 

Now,  had  the  big  banquet  or  the  murder  or  the  other 
things  happened  in  a  small  city  the  editor  must  have 
printed  columns  of  matter  about  them,  for  the  very 
good  reason  that  in  smaller  communities  everybody 
knows  everybody  else  and  all  are  interested  in  each 
other.  Everybody  who  attended  the  banquet  must  be 
especially  interested  in  it  for  people  like  to  read  about 
things  in  which  they  themselves  participate. 

The  metropolitan  press  prints  nothing  of  the  ordi- 
nary happenings  in  the  scores  of  cities  and  villages 
within  fifty  or  seventy-five  miles.  The  small  city  news- 
paper has  a  correspondent  in  every  town  and  hamlet 
near  by  and  everything  of  any  account  is  recorded.  In 
the  country,  the  newspaper  that  has  the  best  town  and 
neighborhood  news  becomes  the  most  popular  sheet. 

In  the  big  city  the  editor  and  his  staff  know  per- 
sonally a  very  small  proportion  of  the  population; 
in  the  small  city  they  know  everybody  worth  know- 
ing. The  provincial  editor  enjoys,  if  he  will,  the  social 
life  of  the  place.  He  hobnobs  with  the  congressman, 
with  the  state  officers  who  chance  to  live  near,  with 
all  those  who  have  to  do  with  public  affairs.  He  is 
influential  in  their  selection.  He  participates  in  pub- 
lic functions,  takes  a  lively  interest  in  all  that  is  going 


142       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

on,  sits  in  councils,  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  edu- 
cation and  trustee  of  the  nearby  college,  and  by  per- 
sonal interest  and  activity  makes  himself  a  "leading 
citizen"  of  the  place. 

The  journalist  in  the  small  city,  like  the  village  edi- 
tor, is  in  close  intimacy  with  his  readers.  He  is  bound 
to  them  by  the  tie  of  community  interest.  He  lives 
with  them  as  well  as  for  them.  He  may  make  himself 
the  most  influential  and  the  most  beloved  man  in  the 
neighborhood  if  he  cares  to  do  so.  Repeatedly  in 
the  history  of  this  Republic  the  editor  of  the  small  city 
newspaper  has  been  called  to  the  President's  cabinet,  to 
a  foreign  ambassadorship,  to  the  national  congress,  to 
the  government  of  his  state  and  to  county  and  town 
office. 

Loyalty  to  community  interests  is  perhaps  as  pop- 
ular and  as  profitable  an  attitude  as  the  provincial  edi- 
tor can  take.  If  the  town  needs  sewers,  or  if  its  pave- 
ments are  poor,  or  its  streets  unclean,  or  its  educational 
system  is  faulty,  or  any  obvious  reform  is  needed,  he 
easily  can  effect  the  change.  Some  public  official  is 
responsible  for  the  defect  and  nothing  so  quickly  warms 
an  official  into  life  as  temperate,  convincing  criticism  of 
his  acts.  He  cannot  withstand  public  opinion,  and 
he  knows  that  public  opinion  finds  its  first  reflection 
in  the  newspaper. 

The  editor  may  influence  as  none  other  can  toward 
the  erection  of  public  buildings,  the  establishment  of 
high  schools  or  colleges,  the  making  of  parks,  and  the 
bringing  to  town  of  new  enterprises.  He  may  cham- 


THE  SMALL   CITY   DAILY  143 

pion  the  community  needs  by  addressing  legislative 
bodies,  may  defend  against  unjust  taxation,  may  call 
for  state  aid  or  federal  assistance.  In  a  thousand  ways 
he  may  influence  to  great  benefits.  There  is  no  denying 
the  fascination,  the  wholesome  satisfaction  of  well  di- 
rected influence.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  honest  pride 
a  man  may  have  because  he  influences  the  thoughts 
and  the  actions  of  many  men. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  REWARDS   OF   JOURNALISM— CHIEFLY 
FOUND  IN  CONGENIAL  EMPLOYMENT- 
COMMUNITY  SERVICE 

A  BEOADEE  comprehension  than  that  reflected  by 
mere  pecuniary  results  is  necessary  to  a  proper  esti- 
mate of  the  rewards  of  journalism.  Great  pecuniary 
success  has  come  to  a  few  metropolitan  newspaper, 
owners,  moderate  success  to  many  owners  in  other  cities ; 
but  the  number  of  successful  owners  is  very  small 
compared  with  the  thousands,  in  number,  of  journalists 
who  are  working  for  salary  only — the  men  who  rep- 
resent the  journalism  of  the  day. 

It  is  difficult  to  compare  the  rewards  of  journalism 
with  those  of  any  other  business  or  profession.  If 
we  consider  the  pecuniary  rewards  the  comparison 
certainly  must  be  unfavorable.  Let  us  see: — 

Many  successful  lawyers  have  incomes  from  fifty 
thousand  dollars  upward,  a  year.  Many  physicians 
and  many  surgeons  make  fifty  thousand  dollars  or  more 
by  the  practice  of  their  profession.  There  are  oculists 
and  artists  who  make  thirty  thousand  plus.  Our 
prize  operatic  singers  have  soared  to  two  hundred  thou- 
sand. The  presidents  of  banks,  railroad  companies,  in- 

144 


THE   EE WARDS   OF   JOURNALISM  145 

siirance  companies,  steel  companies,  copper  companies 
— men  who  have  achieved  high  success  in  their  business 
— commonly  enough  have  salaries  of  from  fifty  thou- 
sand to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  and  every 
opportunity  to  double  the  sum  if  they  choose  to  live 
up  to  their  privileges.  These  are  the  prizes  of  the  call- 
ing to  the  most  successful  men  in  it ;  and  in  a  way  they 
measure  the  success  of  the  men  who  have  won  them. 

But  there  are  few  prizes  in  the  newspaper  business. 
Nothing  like  these  big  salaries  is  paid  to  the  men  who 
achieve  supreme  journalistic  success.  In  New  York 
City  for  instance — and  New  York  is  the  best  newspaper 
city  in  the  world,  pays  the  biggest  salaries,  and  offers 
the  best  journalistic  advantages  and  chances — possibly 
ten  editors  have  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year. 
One  brilliant  editor  has  much  more  than  this  sum  for 
the  reason  that  his  contract  with  the  owner — made 
when  the  sheet's  circulation  was  small — was  based  on 
the  number  of  papers  to  be  sold.  The  circulation  in- 
creased to  phenomenal  figures  and  so  did  the  editor's 
pay.  Of  the  seven  thousand  newspaper  editors  and 
writers  in  New  York  City,  a  number  not  exceeding 
twenty  have  salaries  of  more  than  twenty  thousand 
dollars;  yet  those  who  have  achieved  genuine  suc- 
cess in  the  business — success  that  is  relatively  as  great 
as  that  of  the  bank  presidents  and  professional  men 
mentioned  above — may  be  numbered  by  the  hundred. 
Newspaper  salaries  are  very  much  larger  than  they 
were  forty  years  ago,  double  as  much  in  some  de- 
partments, yet,  despite  this,  the  pecuniary  rewards 


146       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

have  no  comparison  with  those  of  many  other  profes- 
sions or  businesses. 

Since  this  book's  intent  is  to  tell  the  young  man  just 
what  journalism  offers  we  may  say  that  in  New  York 
City,  at  this  writing  (1922)  the  salaries  of  editors  in 
chief,  for  morning  and  evening  newspapers,  range  from 
fifteen  thousand  to  thirty-five  thousand  dollars;  those 
of  managing  editors  from  eight  thousand  to  thirty 
thousand  dollars;  city  editors,  four  thousand  to 
ten  thousand  dollars;  copy  readers,  two  thousand 
to  four  thousand  dollars;  dramatic  and  music  critics, 
four  thousand  to  seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars; 
staff  writers  on  finance  and  politics,  four  thousand 
to  eight  thousand  dollars;  reporters,  one  thousand  to 
seven  thousand  dollars. 

These  then  are  the  pecuniary  rewards  of  the  busi- 
ness to  the  men  who  do  not  achieve  ownership.  In  other 
cities  they  are  much  smaller;  in  the  small  cities  not 
more  than  half  so  much. 

Prices  paid  for  newspaper  work  differ  materially  in 
different  offices.  For  reasons  of  policy  or  poverty  some 
pay  much  less  than  others.  The  higher  sums  just  men- 
tioned go  to  the  few  only,  for  it  should  remain  in 
mind  that  there  is  one  editor  in  chief  only,  one  man- 
aging editor,  one  city  editor,  one  dramatic  critic  on 
each  sheet,  and  the  daily  newspapers  under  considera- 
tion number  twelve  or  fourteen  only  in  the  metropolitan 
district.  Three  quarters  of  the  newspaper  workers  on 
these  journals  earn  less  than  four  thousand  dollars 
each  a  year.  The  man  who  earns  five  thousand  dollars 


THE  REWARDS   OF   JOURNALISM  147 

a  year  in  a  New  York  office  is  rated  as  highly  suc- 
cessful and  desirable,  and  usually  his  services  are  in 
demand  in  other  offices — for  good  men  in  journalism 
are  exceedingly  scarce. 

To  the  youngster  just  entering  the  business  these 
newspaper  salaries  may  look  attractive;  indeed  one 
of  the  magnets  of  the  calling  is  the  fact  that  from  the 
first  the  beginner  is  paid  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars  a 
week,  or  enough  to  live  on.  Physicians  and  lawyers 
frequently  make  comparatively  nothing  for  a  year  or 
two  after  they  begin.  And  many  newspaper  men  seem 
satisfied  to  work  along  through  life  on  what  they  can 
get.  In  all  offices  may  be  seen  the  pathetic  spectacle 
of  men  with  silvered  locks  who  have  sat  at  the  same 
desk  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century. 

Newspaper  work  is  fascinating,  yet  it  is  sadly 
ephemeral.  In  the  big  city  the  life  of  the  newspaper 
is  six  hours ;  in  the  small  city  less  than  twenty-four. 
The  morning  newspaper  lasts  until  toward  noon;  the 
evening  sheet  ceases  to  thrill  at  bed  time.  Dawn  brings 
a  new  edition  and  yesterday's  is  forgotten  forever.  The 
bright  sayings  of  the  editor  amuse  and  interest  for  the 
moment  but  they  do  not  live.  They  are  not  of  a 
nature  to  make  a  lasting  impression  or  reward. 

Greeley  is  remembered  as  a  vigorous  abolitionist  and 
temperance  advocate  and  a  virile  writer  on  national 
topics,  but  to-day  his  writings  are  unsought  save  by  a 
few  students  of  journalism  and  a  few  historians  of 
Civil  War  times.  That  William  Cullen  Bryant  was  a 
great  editor  is  almost  forgotten;  but  his  fame  as  a 


148       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

poet  lasts.  Samuel  Bowles  and  Murat  Halsted  and 
Joseph  Medill  and  other  great  editors  of  the  Civil  War 
period  had  nation-wide  reputations  as  upholders  of 
Lincoln  and  as  champions  of  the  Union  cause.  They 
are  absolutely  unread  to-day.  Dana,  whose  splendid 
scholarship,  whose  familiarity  with  all  literature,  whose 
marvelous  memory  and  whose  stupendous  reservoir  of 
information  must  have  insured  him  lasting  fame  had 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  making  of  books,  was  so 
fascinated  and  so  incessantly  busy  with  the  making 
of  newspapers  that  he  attempted  little  that  might  in- 
terest future  generations.  He  must  have  attained  the 
heights  of  literary  reputation  had  he  undertaken  au- 
thorship. Eugene  Field  toiled  in  routine  newspaper 
work  for  twenty  years ;  his  fame  rests  in  his  verses. 
Nobody  remembers  John  Hay  as  a  hard-working  jour- 
nalist, yet  he  was  one,  and  a  good  one,  too.  He  will 
not  be  forgotten  as  a  statesman  and  a  poet.  Walt 
Whitman's  many  years  of  editorship  seldom  are  re- 
called :  his  poetry  lives.  Who  knows  that  Edgar  Allen 
Poe  was  an  editor  from  1835  to  1847;  who  does  not 
know  "The  Raven?"  Noah  Webster  was  one  of  the 
founders  and  editors  of  American  Minerva  in  1793. 
John  G.  Whittier  was  an  editor  until  he  abandoned 
journalism  for  authorship.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 
wrote  for  periodicals  from  1857  until  1891.  Thomas 
Jefferson  founded  the  National  Gazette  in  1791.  James 
Anthony  Froude  was  a  newspaper  writer.  William  D. 
Howells  began  his  career  as  an  editor.  These  men 
must  have  done  fine  newspaper  work,  but  little  record 
of  it  remains. 


THE   REWARDS   OF   JOURNALISM  149 

In  France,  just  at  the  close  of  the  World  War, 
nearly  all  the  members  of  the  government  had  been 
writers  for  the  newspapers.  They  will  be  remembered 
as  statesmen,  not  as  editors.  Of  them  Mr.  Stephane 
Lauzanne,  the  editor  of  le  Matin,  says : 

Mr.  Raymond  Poincare,  the  President,  formerly  wrote 
articles  that  were  remarkable  for  their  clearness,  lucidity, 
and  argumentation  on  the  greatest  economical  and  political 
problems  that  ever  agitated  France.  Mr.  Georges  Clemen- 
ceau,  Premier,  has  always  been  looked  upon  as  the  first 
newspaper  man  in  France,  the  pride  of  the  French  press, 
for  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  been  the  guiding  spirit  and 
active  head  of  several  important  newspapers,  creating  them, 
making  them  up,  editing  them  and  inspiring  them — in  a 
word,  setting  his  mark  upon  them.  Mr.  Stephen  Pichon, 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  is  also  a  newspaper  man.  For 
a  long  time  he  was  on  the  staff  of  Justice  and  afterward 
publisher  of  le  Petit  Journal.  Other  members  of  the  French 
Cabinet,  Mr.  Lafferre,  Secretary  of  Public  Education;  Mr. 
Klotz,  Secretary  of  Finance;  Mr.  Georges  Leygues,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy;  have  also  written  in  the  great  dailies 
of  Paris  and  Mr.  J.  M.  Dumesnil,  Under-Secretary  of  State 
for  Aviation,  was  at  the  beginning  of  his  career  a  brilliant 
and  active  reporter. 

No,  newspaper  articles,  sparkling  and  spectacular 
as  many  of  them  are,  must  be  recognized  as  ephemeral. 
The  editor  has  no  time  for  leisurely  work.  He  rarely 
studies  a  single  subject  long  enough  or  intensely  enough 
to  become  profoundly  authoritative  on  that  subject. 
He  goes  on  through  life  informing,  elucidating,  explain- 
ing, protesting,  analyzing,  until  overtaken  by  the  in- 
firmities of  years  he  passes  from  view.  In  a  hazy  sort 
of  a  way  it  is  said  of  him  that  he  was  a  great  editor, 


150       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

but  all  that  he  wrote  for  his  newspaper  is  forgotten. 
He  leaves  little  for  future  generations  to  ponder  over. 

Alas !  It  is  a  sickening,  saddening  thought  that  the 
newspaper  is  for  the  moment  only  and  that  the  editor 
who  leaves  behind  him  a  lasting  record  of  greatness 
has  gained  it  through  some  other  line  of  endeavor. 

To  the  ambitious  man  the  average  newspaper  sal- 
ary means  little.  Any  possible  savings  from  it  must 
be  insufficient  to  make  him  especially  prosperous.  They 
do  not  insure  against  a  pinch  in  old  age  or  against 
misfortune.  They  do  not  permit  of  the  accumulation 
of  much  property  or  capital.  They  furnish  a  feeble 
inspiration  to  the  ambition  that  seeks  the  comfort  of 
leisurely  life,  the  stimulation  of  extended  travel,  or  the 
luxury  of  intellectual  repose  and  freedom  from  physical 
exertion  that  every  one  hopes  may  bless  his  declining 
years. 

And  if  these  conditions  be  true  of  metropolitan  work- 
ers, how  much  the  more  must  they  befit  the  writers 
for  newspapers  in  the  smaller  cities  and  villages.  It 
is  not  the  ideal  of  the  American  boy  either  in  coun- 
try or  city  to  live  forever  in  a  rented  house  or  on  a 
small  salary,  or,  indeed,  to  live  the  simple  life.  The 
small-city  journalism  offers  little  else  than  these  if  the 
young  man  cannot  become  a  newspaper  owner.  To  the 
man  who  owns  his  sheet  the  rewards  are  more  abundant. 
But  ownership  involves  the  possession  of  capital  and 
usually  the  young  man  just  through  with  student  life 
has  no  capital  except  his  brains.  In  other  callings 
the  capital  of  brains  commands  success,  notably  in 


THE   REWARDS   OF   JOURNALISM  151 

the  law,  in  medicine,  in  engineering,  in  architecture,  but 
in  the  newspaper  business,  while  brains  are  absolutely 
essential  they  advance  the  young  man  only  so  far,  give 
but  feeble  reward,  unless  reinforced  with  capital  with 
which  to  buy  a  newspaper  property.  It  surely  is  a 
discouraging  feature  of  the  calling  that,  however  in- 
tellectual or  learned  a  man  may  be,  he  rarely  achieves 
more  than  moderate  pecuniary  success,  as  long  as  he 
remains  an  employee. 

In  the  big  cities  the  big  properties  have  a  money 
valuation  measured  by  millions  of  dollars.  They  are 
owned  generally  by  very  rich  men  or  families  and  own- 
ership rarely  changes.  To  possess  one  of  them  has 
been  the  ardent  and  unaccomplished  ambition  of  thou- 
sands of  men:  capitalists,  statesmen,  reformers,  phil- 
anthropists, cranks.  The  chance  of  the  young  jour- 
nalist getting  one  is  infinitesimal.  And  in  the  small  city 
the  price  put  on  a  newspaper  that  by  chance  happens 
to  be  for  sale  is  far  beyond  its  earning  value.  There 
seems  to  be  some  mysterious  ingredient  in  newspaper 
properties  that  gives  them  a  fictitious  value  in  the  mind 
of  the  owner.  Whether  it  is  prospective  influence,  or 
prospective  prospects,  or  what,  nobody  is  able  to  ex- 
plain; but  the  sheet  is  always  "worth  much  more  than 
it  is  earning." 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that,  whereas  a  factory,  or  a 
store,  or  a  farm,  or  a  railroad  that  has  not  made 
a  cent  for  five  or  six  years,  will  sell  for  no  more  than 
its  old  junk  represents,  nevertheless  a  newspaper  with 
the  same  poverty  of  profits  commands  a  price  based  on 


152       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

a  prodigality  of  profits.  The  very  great  success  of 
some  newspapers  seems  to  have  inspired  the  belief 
that  any  sheet  may  be  made  profitable  if  properly 
managed;  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  business 
ability  counts  for  quite  as  much  as  editorial  excellence 
on  the  newspaper  balance  sheet.  Indeed,  it  may  count 
for  more,  for  have  we  not  seen  excellently  edited  sheets 
fail  utterly,  and  do  we  not  know  of  others,  utterly  de- 
void of  editorial  worth,  in  which  the  joy  bells  of  pros- 
perity tinkle  a  cheerful  chime? 

Since  then  the  savings  from  the  salary  of  even  the 
successful  newspaper  writer  are  insufficient  for  the 
accumulation  of  property  or  the  establishment  of  any 
considerable  prosperity,  and  since  newspaper  owner- 
ship involves  the  investment  of  capital  and  smart  busi- 
ness ability  as  well,  it  follows  that  our  young  man  must 
look  beyond  mere  pecuniary  gains  for  the  rewards  of 
journalism. 

What  then  are  some  of  the  rewards?  The  editor 
may  exercise  his  gifts  of  persuasion  in  unnumbered  di- 
rections. The  important  activities  of  the  world  pass 
by  him  in  daily  review.  His  mental  vision  may  survey 
the  entire  field  of  human  thought,  furnishing  delight- 
ful subjects  for  consideration,  for  study,  for  exposi- 
tion. In  all  modesty  and  without  vainglory  he  may 
rejoice  in  the  satisfaction  of  well  directed  influence; 
may  find  pleasure  in  the  responsibility  of  influencing 
public  opinion;  may  take  pride  in  the  endeavor  to  aid 
in  the  intellectual  and  moral  uplift  of  his  fellow-men. 
What  greater  reward  hath  man  than  this? 


THE   REWARDS   OF   JOURNALISM  153 

There  are  no  problems  of  statecraft,  science,  society 
or  religion,  that  he  may  not  undertake.  Everybody 
likes  to  tell  his  neighbor  the  latest  news  and  gossip  and 
especially  likes  to  add  what  he  thinks  about  them.  The 
newspaper  editor  tells  his  information  to  thousands; 
and  he  finds  additional  satisfaction  in  telling  it  well. 
To  take  a  hand  in  every  political  shindy  is  uproariously 
good  fun;  indeed,  notwithstanding  all  its  importance, 
its  responsibilities,  its  dignities,  there  is  more  fun  in 
the  newspaper  business  than  in  any  other  occupation 
known  to  man. 

Neither  are  the  joys  and  the  advantages  of  a  news- 
paper connection  confined  to  the  editorial  desk  alone. 
In  consequence  of  his  abundant  fund  of  information 
on  current  events  and  his  knowledge  of  the  ways  of 
the  world  the  editor  is  asked  to  participate  in  all  sorts 
of  public  events.  This  is  particularly  the  privilege  of 
the  editor  in  the  small  city  where  he  is  well  known  and 
where  everybody  seeks  his  good  opinion  and  good  will. 
There  he  is  found  in  meetings  and  councils  and  all  so- 
cial gatherings  of  any  account,  taking  active  part  in 
the  speaking  and  the  disposing.  There,  too,  he  is  active 
in  party  politics,  in  community  interests  and  in  the 
town's  public  life.  In  the  big  cities  he  is  less  in  public 
gaze,  yet,  if  he  has  reached  editorial  success,  he  finds 
himself  welcome  wherever  people  gather.  If  perchance 
he  can  speak  pleasingly  he  is  asked  for  addresses  to  all 
sorts  of  audiences  and  for  after-dinner  speeches  at  pub- 
lic banquets.  His  long  experience  in  mingling  with 
public  men  gives  him  ease  of  manner  in  social  gather- 


154      THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

ings.  Constant  practice  in  writing  usually  gives  him 
the  gift  of  ready  speech. 

The  editor  is  asked  to  consult  with  citizens'  com- 
mittees, to  sit  with  advisory  boards,  to  take  member- 
ship in  all  sorts  of  organizations  and  clubs.  He  has 
every  opportunity  to  participate  actively  in  the  social, 
the  political,  and  the  intellectual  life  of  his  parish.  And 
the  wise  editor  does  all  those  things,  appreciating  that 
it  is  to  his  business  advantage  to  mingle  with  the  peo- 
ple, to  know  what  they  are  talking  about,  what  in- 
terests them,  and  what  may  be  their  opinions. 

Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  the  editor  of  importance 
finds  supreme  satisfaction  in  the  acquaintances  he 
makes.  No  other  occupation  offers  such  opportunity 
for  meeting  public  men,  for  intimacy  with  those  wtn 
are  influencing  the  intellectual  and  the  commercial 
world.  His  very  environment  brings  him  in  contact 
with  them.  He  has  the  instruction  of  their  wisdom  and 
their  opinion  and  they  are  interested  in  him  because 
of  his  familiarity  with  current  events;  and  very  often 
the  choicest  of  comradeship  results.  He  knows  his  fel- 
low editors.  He  knows  the  successful  authors,  the  es- 
sayists, the  critics,  the  makers  of  literature  and  the 
lovers  of  literature,  the  men  conspicuous  in  education, 
the  leaders  in  the  social  world.  He  may,  if  he  will, 
find  himself  in  constant  association  with  the  brightest 
minds  and  the  most  intellectual  people  of  the  period — 
and  who  shall  say  that  this  is  not  greatly  to  be  de- 
sired ? 

Yet  more  naturally,  however,  comes  association  with 


THE   HE  WARDS   OF   JOURNALISM  155 

men  in  the  public  service,  with  the  leaders  of  political 
parties  and  of  political  movements.  If  the  editor's  jour- 
nal chances  to  be  in  accord  with  one  of  the  great 
political  parties  the  editor  finds  himself  in  the  con- 
fidence of  the  party  leaders  and  participating  in  their 
councils.  His  advice  is  sought  as  to  party  plans  and 
measures,  the  availability  of  proposed  candidates,  the 
conduct  of  campaigns  and  the  operation  of  the  party 
machinery.  Successful  editorship  involves  a  fine  knowl- 
edge of  party  politics,  a  constant  study  of  national 
issues  and  of  statesmanship  and  of  the  requirements 
of  public  service,  as  well  as  searching  inquiry  into  the 
science  of  government  and  the  intricacies  of  diplomacy. 
The  journalist's  training  especially  fits  him  for  politi- 
cal activity  and  very  frequently,  after  a  few  years  of 
editing,  he  joins  in  public  service  or  engages  in  pro- 
fessional politics. 

Indeed,  very  many  newspaper  writers  drift  into  busi- 
nesses that  promise  better  pecuniary  rewards.  They 
start  in  journalism  because  it  pays  something  from  the 
first,  but  careful  calculation  discloses  little  promise  for 
wealth  in  the  future  and  they  seek  the  golden  dollar 
elsewhere. 

It  is  not  to  be  urged  that  journalism  especially  fits 
a  man  for  commercial  life,  nevertheless  there  is  a 
mysterious  influence  in  it  that  makes  a  man  out  of 
a  boy  very  quickly.  A  few  years  of  reporting  in  a 
big  city  makes  him  mentally  alert,  if  anything  can, 
and  teaches  the  ways  of  the  world  as  nothing  else  does. 
He  experiences  a  new  phase  of  life  every  day  of  his 


156      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

life.  He  is  taught  to  search  for  facts,  to  seek  for 
causes  and  to  foresee  results.  He  gets  broadness  of 
vision,  expanse  of  comprehension,  and  rugged  contact 
with  the  world — contact  with  the  men  whose  efforts  are 
important  enough  to  command  publicity.  The  nature 
of  news  reporting  is  not  generally  understood.  Routine 
reporting  is  comparatively  easy.  The  reporting  of 
highly  important  events  is  extremely  difficult.  In  politi- 
cal convulsions,  in  financial  panics,  in  commercial  fail- 
ures, in  big  criminal  cases,  in  social  scandals,  in  crooked 
legislation,  in  most  of  the  topics  that  excite  mankind, 
the  people  most  involved  strive  to  conceal  the  real  facts. 
How  is  the  reporter  to  know  whether  he  is  being  lied 
to  or  not?  Ah!  but  he  must  know.  It  is  his  business 
to  know. 

It  is  the  commonest  of  reportorial  experience  to  have 
the  information  given  by  one  man  positively  contra- 
dicted by  another.  All  decent  newspapers  insist  on  ac- 
curate news  reports.  They  cannot  afford  to  be  un- 
truthful. It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  them  that 
the  narrative  of  a  great  piece  of  news,  to  be  read 
by  a  million  persons,  be  written  with  absolute  fidelity 
to  fact.  It  may  be  said  in  all  truth  that  the  experi- 
enced reporter  starts  out  for  the  facts  of  a  big  case 
with  the  expectation  that  half  of  the  people  involved 
will  try  to  mislead  and  fool  him.  He  questions  every 
statement  made  to  him  and  the  motive  of  the  man  who 
makes  it.  He  verifies  it  through  some  other  medium. 
He  becomes  a  detective.  He  uses  every  trick  of  the 
calling  to  extract  unwilling  information. 


THE  REWARDS   OF   JOURNALISM  157 

This  search  for  truth  is  one  phase  only  of  the  many 
that  constitute  a  reporter's  experience.  They  involve 
the  absorption  of  a  mass  of  information,  an  intimate 
contact  with  men  of  affairs,  the  cultivation  of  ability 
to  think  quickly  and  speak  easily,  and  mingle  pleasantly 
with  the  world.  It  has  been  urged  with  some  reason 
that  five  or  six  years  of  this  sort  of  thing  better  fits 
a  young  man  for  almost  any  kind  of  business  than  does 
sitting  at  a  clerk's  desk  learning  the  rudiments  of  the 
business. 

But  the  intelligent  or  educated  young  man  with  a 
grain  of  perception  in  his  makeup  should  understand 
that  the  joy  of  living  is  found  in  congenial  employ- 
ment— in  work  that  inspires  and  educates  and  delights. 
There  would  not  be  much  happiness  in  this  world  if 
happiness  depended  on  riches.  The  good  physician 
finds  greater  satisfaction  in  the  helpfulness  of  his 
service  than  in  the  collection  of  his  fee.  The  money 
value  of  Mr.  Edison's  discovery  is  probably  the  very 
last  thing  he  thinks  of. 

The  Rev.  Washington  Gladden,  who  gave  his  life 
to  the  ministry,  was  first  an  apprentice  in  the  Owego 
Gazette  and  he  never  thereafter  could  withstand  the 
fascinations  of  newspaper  writing.  While  conducting 
his  parishes  he  contributed  to  various  publications.  He 
conducted  a  magazine  of  his  own  while  in  Springfield, 
Mass.,  of  which  he  says :  "I  edited  it  in  connection  with 
my  parish  work,  doing  all  the  editorial  writing,  ten 
pages  of  minion  every  month,  conducting  all  the  cor- 
respondence, reading  all  the  proof,  and  making  up  the 


158       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

pages  in  the  composing  room.  That  was  really  worth 
while.  I  never  had  a  better  time."  "To  generate  and 
diffuse  a  sound,  sweet,  generous,  wholesome  public  opin- 
ion is  the  best  and  the  biggest  business  in  which  any 
human  being  can  engage"  was  one  of  his  maxims. 

There  is  no  denying  the  fascination  of  power  and 
of  influence,  the  satisfaction  of  persuasion  and  of  direc- 
tion. The  editor  comes  to  love  his  work  because  he 
feels  that  he  is  participating  in  leadership.  He  ap- 
preciates, perhaps,  that  he  is  the  custodian  of  some- 
thing new  and  he  glories  in  the  thought  that  he  may 
communicate  this  new  thing  to  the  world;  rejoices  that 
he  is  influencing  others  to  see  as  he  sees,  to  think  as  he 
thinks,  to  understand  as  he  understands. 

He  comes  to  understand  the  delights  and  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  persuasion,  appreciating,  as  Sir  Arthur 
Quiller-Couch  tells  the  Cambridge  students,  that  per- 
suasion is  the  aim  of  all  the  arts,  of  all  exposition  of 
the  sciences,  of  all  useful  exchange  of  converse  in  our 
daily  life;  as  it  is  the  end  sought  by  the  artist  in  his 
picture,  the  mathematician  in  his  problem,  the  clergy- 
man in  his  sermon.  "Nor  can  I  imagine  any  earthly 
gift  more  covetable  by  you,  Gentlemen,"  says  this  lec- 
turer, "than  of  persuading  your  fellows  to  listen  to 
your  views  and  attend  to  what  you  have  at  heart.  Sup- 
pose that  you  wish  to  become  a  journalist.  Well,  and 
why  not?  Is  it  a  small  thing  to  desire  the  power  of 
influencing  day  by  day  to  better  citizenship  an  un- 
guessed  number  of  men,  using  the  best  thought  and  ap- 
plying the  best  language  at  your  command?" 


CHAPTER  XI 

NEWSPAPER    INFLUENCE— WAYS    OF    PER- 
SUADING THE  PUBLIC— SERVICE  TO 
THE  GOVERNMENT 

THE  editor  of  experience  appreciates  that  in  at- 
tempting to  influence  the  public  he  is  addressing  many 
men  of  many  minds.  An  argument  intended  to  convince 
a  scholar  or  a  well  informed  man  would  be  lost  on 
an  ignorant  man,  while  an  appeal  written  down  to  the 
understanding  of  the  ignorant  man  must  provoke  mirth 
from  the  wise.  Nevertheless,  all  persons  frequently  are 
influenced  by  mere  suggestion,  especially  when  they 
have  not  studied  the  subject.  Frequently  they  may  re- 
verse a  judgment  on  a  mere  hint  in  a  newspaper.  Not 
all  men  have  time,  in  these  busy  days,  to  think  out  the 
problems  of  the  hour,  have  not  the  facilities  at  hand 
for  research,  haven't  been  taught  to  think.  Intelligent 
thinking  is  a  result  of  education — the  education  that 
teaches  to  think.  Mental  improvement  is  the  result 
of  thought.  Progress  comes  from  mental  appli- 
cation. What  we  call  "experience"  is  the  result 
of  constant  thought  in  one  direction  or  toward  a  single 
purpose.  Lincoln  was  fourfold  the  man  in  1865  that 
he  was  in  1860.  Any  observer  could  see  Woodrow  Wil- 

159 


160       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

son  leap  forward  in  mental  strength  from  the  in- 
stant of  his  appearance  in  public  life. 

The  editor  literally  thinks  for  his  readers.  He  ac- 
quires a  habit  of  thought  not  cultivated  or  sought  or 
possessed  by  his  readers.  He  is  trained  to  a  mental 
analysis  of  the  causes  of  great  events,  to  an  expert 
understanding  of  their  present  importance,  to  a  clear 
insight  into  their  future  influence.  If  he  has  studied, 
he  knows  the  great  influences  that  for  centuries  have 
governed  human  conduct. 

In  the  big  cities  the  editor  knows  the  quality  of 
mind  he  is  addressing  better  than  does  the  writer  in 
smaller  communities.  In  New  York,  for  instance,  every 
sheet  has  a  different  sort  of  clientele.  Everybody 
knows  which  newspaper,  by  reason  of  its  scholarly 
editorial  articles,  its  criticisms,  its  reviews  and  non- 
sensational  news  appeals  to  the  highest  intelligence. 
And  every  one  knows  the  ones  that  appeal  to  the  non- 
thinking public. 

But  in  smaller  towns  the  newspaper  goes  to  the  wise 
and  the  unwise  alike.  The  task  of  pleasing  everybody 
requires  study,  and  here  editorial  writing  becomes  an 
art,  indeed.  The  scholar  may  sneer  at  the  article 
that  pleases  the  man  of  toil  and  both  may  despise  the 
suggestion  that  convinces  the  man  of  medium  intelli- 
gence. 

The  editor  of  scholarly  instincts  naturally  wants 
to  please  the  highest  intelligence  among  his  readers  ;  but 
the  readers  who  really  think  in  a  scholarly  way  are  few. 
The  great  proportion  of  readers  care  little  for  so-called 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  161 

polite  literature,  neither  do  they  care  for  profound 
instruction.  They  want  the  simpler  sort  of  editorial 
comment  and  are  better  pleased  with  that  which  ex- 
plains than  with  that  which  argues.  They  want  their 
news  adorned  with  breath-catching  headlines  in  big 
type. 

In  the  large  cities  many  professional  and  business 
men  read  several  daily  newspapers,  but  their  number 
is  small  compared  with  the  millions  who  read  one  paper 
only.  In  smaller  cities  and  in  the  villages  and  on  the 
farms  it  is  quite  the  exception  when  more  than  one  daily 
newspaper  enters  the  household.  In  very  many  in- 
stances this  one  sheet  is  all  the  reading  matter  the 
members  of  the  household  have.  Their  entire  concep- 
tion of  public  affairs  is  had  from  this  publication.  It 
is  quite  impossible  to  suppose  that  they  are  not  in- 
fluenced by  it.  They  let  the  editor  think  for  them 
and  they  accept  his  conclusions. 

It  has  been  argued,  with  much  reason,  that  the  news- 
paper is  indispensable  to  a  republican  or  representative 
form  of  government  embracing  vast  territory,  like 
our  own.  Even  the  founders  of  this  nation  did  not 
anticipate  that  the  government  could  extend  its  juris- 
diction far  beyond  the  Alleghenies,  much  less  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  plea  for  states  rights  was  founded 
on  the  belief  that  it  must  be  impossible  to  bring  so  large 
an  area  as  the  original  thirteen  states  under  a  single 
form  of  government.  Without  the  telegraph,  without 
railroads,  in  the  early  history  of  the  American  nation 
there  was  no  way  of  keeping  the  mass  of  the  people 


162      THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

in  close  touch  with  the  government,  of  supplying  quick 
information  on  current  events  without  which  the  people 
are  incapable  of  forming  correct  opinions.  To-day, 
the  newspapers,  with  their  simultaneous  publication 
all  over  the  continent,  their  fast  printing  and  quick 
delivery,  keep  all  the  people  instantly  informed.  They 
are  able  immediately  to  reflect  public  opinion,  thus 
making  themselves  indispensable  to  the  government. 
Vast  though  our  distances  may  be,  we  have  the  healthi- 
est kind  of  public  spirit  and  response.  The  sentiment 
of  the  nation  is  at  the  government's  disposal  in  a  jiffy. 

This  was  strikingly  illustrated  after  one  of  Presi- 
dent Wilson's  intimations  to  Germany  that  uncondi- 
tional surrender  must  be  a  condition  of  armistice.  The 
same  edition  of  a  New  York  newspaper  that  contained 
the  President's  declaration  also  contained  comments 
on  that  declaration  made  by  more  than  two  hundred 
different  publications  from  Maine  to  California,  and 
every  one  of  them  insisted  on  "unconditional  surrender." 
The  President  knew  instantly  that  the  people  were 
with  him. 

For  very  many  years  it  has  been  the  practice  of 
governments  (and  yet  more  persistently  the  practice  of 
political  leaders)  to  put  out  "feelers"  through  the 
press.  A  new  policy,  a  questionable  nomination,  a 
new  plan  of  taxation,  may  be  contemplated.  The  gov- 
ernment seeks  to  "feel  the  pulse  of  the  people"  on  its 
desirability.  Hints  are  given  to  the  correspondents 
that  the  policy  or  the  plan  has  been  suggested  and  is 
under  consideration  and  the  correspondents  pass  it 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  163 

along  to  their  newspapers,  well  fortified  with  those 
stale  old  prefixes,  "it  is  said  that"  or  "rumor  has  it 
that"  or  "a  person  high  in  authority  who  does  not  wish 
to  be  quoted  hints  that" — and  so  on — giving  an  out- 
line of  the  proposed  action. 

This  is  followed  by  another  "feeler"  passing  out  a 
little  more  information  saddled  on  some  other  mysteri- 
ous persons.  On  any  important  question  the  public 
flashes  a  quick  response.  The  proposal  in  Washington, 
for  instance,  to  double  the  tax  on  theater  tickets  and 
admissions  to  places  of  amusement  drew  a  howl  of 
disapproval  that  defeated  the  plan.  The  people  didn't 
want  their  pleasures  taxed  additionally. 

The  government  or  the  political  party  that  deliber- 
ately defies  public  sentiment  as  expressed  in  the  news- 
papers is  put  out  of  business  usually  at  the  following 
election. 

Throughout  the  World  War  the  newspapers  were 
of  the  utmost  usefulness  to  the  government.  They 
stood  between  the  government  and  the  people.  They 
made  and  reflected  public  sentiment  as  never  before. 
Government  announcements  were  read  in  every  city  in 
the  nation  and  in  most  of  the  villages  within  six  hours 
of  their  release.  The  government  spoke  to  the  people 
in  almost  instantaneous  speech. 

The  newspapers  urged  and  sustained  and  stimulated 
the  bond  sales,  the  thrift  stamp  drives,  the  activities 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  like 
organizations,  the  merciful  ministrations  of  the  Red 
Cross,  the  vast  collection  of  money  for  the  relief  of 


164       THE   YOUNG    MAN    AND    JOURNALISM 

stricken  peoples,  the  food  campaigns,  the  conservation 
of  heat  and  light  and  a  host  of  other  material  things. 
It  would  require  pages  of  print  to  tell  the  half  of  it. 
It  would  require  hours  of  constant  thought  to  appre- 
ciate it,  Recall,  if  you  will,  what  your  own  favorite 
paper  did,  and  then  be  assured  that  thousands  of  other 
daily  sheets  did  the  same  thing! 

Newspaper  influence  had  perhaps  its  finest  recogni- 
tion in  the  various  propaganda  of  the  war.  All  gov- 
ernments used  the  press  lavishly  with  intent  to  guide, 
to  conceal,  to  accomplish.  They  "felt  the  pulse  of 
the  people"  constantly  and  subtly.  Proposed  policies 
were  tested  out.  Often  they  were  suggested  to  direct 
attention  from  the  real  policy  or  to  take  the  sting 
from  it. 

The  French  press  under  the  immediate  inspiration 
and  control  of  the  government  held  the  people  in  com- 
pact unity.  It  stimulated  the  morale  and  intensified 
the  purpose  of  the  soldiers,  for  it  was  possible  to  strew 
the  trenches  with  newspapers  within  two  hours  after 
they  were  printed.  This  was  of  inestimable  patriotic 
service.  Not  any  other  government  used  the  news- 
papers with  such  skill  or  with  greater  beneficial  results. 

Newspaper  influence  was  sought  in  the  process  of  the 
censorship.  The  object  of  censorship  was  not  alone 
to  prevent  information  from  reaching  the  enemy  but 
also  to  influence  public  opinion.  All  warring  nations 
seek  the  good  opinion  of  the  neutrals — seek  to  have 
neutral  nations  convinced  of  the  ultimate  success  of 
their  armies — hence  the  impulse  to  suppress  the  news 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  165 

of  defeat  and  to  exalt  victory.  Early  in  the  war  this 
was  the  pronounced  attitude  of  Germany  and  Great 
Britain  toward  America,  much  to  the  annoyance  of  the 
American  newspapers. 

Germany's  efforts  to  influence  the  American  public 
through  our  newspapers  were  so  constant,  so  vocifer- 
ous, so  transparent,  that  everybody  recognized  the 
purpose.  Yet  she  continued  to  spend  great  sums  of 
money  on  propaganda  to  the  very  end  of  the  war. 
Germany  worked  the  press  of  every  country.  It  was 
a  part  of  her  war  plan  just  as  much  as  was  the  making 
of  bullets  or  asphyxiating  gas.  It  was  thought  out  and 
arranged  for  and  practiced  before  the  war  broke.  It 
was  depended  on  to  create  sympathy  and  to  establish 
justification;  and  it  was  exceedingly  efficacious  in  the 
early  periods  and  influenced  greatly  to  postpone  our 
entrance  into  the  conflict. 

Despite  the  censorship  the  war  was  very  well  re- 
ported by  American  newspapers.  Our  journals  were 
read  with  an  interest  approaching  to  anxiety,  and  the 
public  came  to  believe  that  the  news  was  truthfully 
presented.  News  reading  was  raised  to  a  high  plane 
of  importance.  The  war  gave  the  public  greater  con- 
fidence in  the  newspapers. 

In  olden  times,  despotic  times,  in  Greece  and  Italy  let 
us  say,  before  newspapers  existed,  the  people  gathered 
in  public  places  to  listen  to  government  proclamations 
and  whatever  news  the  rulers  were  pleased  to  give  out. 
The  information  was  proclaimed  by  heralds  or  was 
placarded  on  market  walls.  The  usual  policy  was  to 


166       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

keep  the  people  in  ignorance  of  what  was  going  on. 
No  public  opinion  existed,  for  the  public  had  no  in- 
formation on  which  to  form  conclusions.  Many  gov- 
ernments prevented  gatherings  of  the  people  knowing 
the  power  of  the  people  to  create  sentiment  and  re- 
bellion. Not  for  weeks  or  months  did  remote  regions 
get  important  news  that  the  government  wished  to 
conceal.  No  means  of  quick  communication  existed. 
The  concealment  of  news  and  the  suppression  of  public 
sentiment  helped  to  strengthen  despotic  government. 
The  rulers  might  circulate  false  news  as  well  as  the 
truth,  and  frequently  did  so.  Our  present-day  censor- 
ship is  an  hereditary  relic  of  this  ancient-day  conceal- 
ment. 

The  newspaper's  greatest  influence  is  not  in  persuad- 
ing persons  who  have  learned  to  think  for  themselves. 
It  is  exercised  on  that  great  mass  of  our  population 
that  has  no  other  source  of  information  than  the 
newspapers.  In  thousands  of  families  not  more  than 
two  or  three  books  are  purchased  in  an  entire  year, 
and  these  are  likely  to  be  books  of  fiction.  Yet  few 
families  are  without  a  daily  newspaper.  Usually  one 
paper  only  is  taken,  and  how  could  it  happen  other- 
wise than  that  the  household  should  come  to  the  editor's 
way  of  thinking  when  no  other  thought  than  his  comes 
to  their  attention?  This  condition  applies  to  people 
in  moderate  circumstances,  employees,  helpers,  those 
who  live  by  physical  toil  or  who  do  the  simplest  kind 
of  clerical  work.  These  people  are  easily  influenced 
because  they  have  not  been  trained  to  think  or  analyze 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  167 

for  themselves.  They  depend  on  the  newspaper  for 
information,  explanation,  suggestion.  They  have  little 
inclination  or  time  to  study  with  diligence  the  great 
questions  of  the  day  and  have  few  or  no  facilities  for 
doing  so  in  any  event.  They  are  not  interested  in 
profound  argument  but  they  accept  conclusions  readily. 
If  the  editor  be  wise  he  will  seek  to  know  what  propor- 
tion of  his  readers  are  of  this  type. 

The  average  newspaper  reader  does  not  think  over- 
much of  what  he  is  reading  but  he  is  highly  receptive. 
His  conclusion  is  likely  to  be  affirmative.  It  is  his 
nature  to  believe  rather  than  to  distrust.  He  is  easily 
led  by  artful  groupings  of  fact,  rather  more  easily  led 
thus  than  by  argument  requiring  much  thought.  There 
is  not  time  in  these  strenuous  days  for  the  old-fashioned 
kind  of  thinking.  Quick  conclusions  are  the  vogue  and 
they  are  not  the  result  of  profound  thought.  Rather 
are  they  the  result  of  hasty  thought.  This  is  attested 
by  the  rush  from  one  party  to  another  by  the  so-called 
independent  voter,  or  the  sudden  dethronement  of  a 
public  idol,  or  the  restoration  of  a  discarded  hero  to 
public  popularity. 

These  quick  changes  in  public  sentiment  have  en- 
livened the  history  of  all  times.  The  poet  Byron,  in  the 
beginning  of  his  literary  career,  was  praised  by  men 
and  petted  by  women  until  the  entire  British  nation 
was  chanting  adorations.  Then,  with  the  suddenness 
of  a  whirlwind,  it  turned  against  him  and  with  furious 
persecution  drove  him  into  exile.  The  American  hero 
of  Manila  Bay  was  escorted  up  Broadway  by  shouting 


168       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

thousands  of  admirers.  Within  a  year  he  was  no  longer 
a  hero.  We  resisted  woman  suffrage  for  scores  of 
years  and  suddenly  accepted  it.  This  nation  drank 
rum  from  its  earliest  beginnings  and  then  with  com- 
parative suddenness  changed  the  practice  of  centuries 
by  declaring  for  prohibition. 

The  newspaper's  unconscious  influence  over  the  cas- 
ual reader  must  be  recognized.  It  is  an  instructive 
influence,  usually,  of  wide  scope,  covering  a  multitude 
of  topics  that  do  not  come  to  the  reader's  attention 
in  any  other  way  than  through  the  newspapers.  In- 
formation does  not  get  into  the  magazines  or  books 
until  weeks  or  months  after  the  event  but  the  news- 
papers print  it  on  the  instant.  The  casual  newspaper 
reader,  for  instance,  reads  that  the  new  Roentgen  ray 
has  been  discovered,  by  means  of  which  the  interior  of 
an  ordinarily  opaque  substance  may  be  disclosed  in 
photograph.  He  reads  enough  to  establish  that  fact, 
but  as  soon  as  the  description  begins  to  become  tech- 
nical the  casual  reader  abandons  the  article.  Never- 
theless he  has  absorbed  the  fact  and  a  crude  notion  of 
the  discovery  and  has  added  just  so  much  to  his  fund 
of  information.  He  may  study  it  out  if  he  chooses. 

Again,  there  is  no  other  quick  source  of  information 
on  new  developments  in  politics,  in  finance,  in  the  fluc- 
tuations of  the  commercial  market  prices. 

Almost  all  of  us  feel  that  we  must  know  about  the 
artists,  the  singers,  the  actors,  and  we  love  to  talk  about 
them,  yet  what  we  say  we  almost  surely  have  read  in 
some  newspaper.  You  get  an  intelligent  idea  at  your 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  169 

breakfast  table  of  the  new  opera  that  did  not  end 
until  midnight,  of  the  new  play  produced  on  the  night 
preceding,  of  the  speeches  and  the  spirit  of  the  banquet 
that  did  not  end  until  after  you  were  in  sleep,  of  the 
conflagration  that  destroyed  some  well-known  building 
during  the  night,  of  the  railroad  accident  that  de- 
stroyed scores  of  lives.  And  these  are  the  things  that 
you  talk  about  during  the  day.  They  unconsciously 
influence  your  thoughts  and  your  actions  even  when 
read  casually. 

The  busy  man  is  rather  easily  led  along  or  into 
the  editor's  way  of  thinking  especially  when  the  topic 
is  new  to  him.  He  is  not  a  trained  or  analytical  thinker 
at  best,  hasn't  time  to  reflect  much  on  the  subject, 
cannot  invent  a  new  line  of  thought  in  opposition  to 
the  editor's  because  of  unfamiliarity  with  the  subject, 
has  no  quick  way  of  getting  additional  information. 
Maybe  he  instinctively  balks  at  the  editorial  conclusion, 
but  probably  the  editor  is  right,  he  reasons,  and  he 
passes  to  something  more  interesting. 

The  next  article  may  be  a  continuation  of  comment 
on  a  subject  written  about  two  days  before.  It  be- 
comes a  bit  more  familiar.  He  half  recognizes  the 
argument.  He  half  accepts  it  now  as  his  own,  has 
"thought  of  that  before,"  so  he  approves.  Reiteration 
has  influenced  him;  a  third  presentation  clinches  him. 
Reiteration  is  a  most  subtle  means  of  influencing  public 
opinion.  The  man  who  reads  the  same  thought  a  few 
times  in  different  diction  comes  to  accept  it  as  his  own 
thought.  It  is  an  unconscious  influence. 


170      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

It  is  little  consolation  to  the  editor  that  his  articles 
are  hastily  read ;  so  much  the  more  reason,  on  the  con- 
trary, for  making  them  striking  and  for  making  their 
meaning  the  more  easily  understood. 

People  like  to  see  their  own  beliefs  reflected  in  their 
newspaper;  regard  the  editorial  utterance  as  a  con- 
firmation of  it;  welcome  a  new  argument  in  its  favor; 
like  to  read  it  to  a  neighbor ;  come  to  look  on  the  sheet 
as  a  personal  champion. 

All  newspapers  have  great  influence  one  way  or  an- 
other. They  reach  the  people  to  an  extent  not  reached 
by  any  other  influence,  for  everybody  of  any  account 
reads  them.  Consider  for  a  moment.  Rarely  does  a 
clergyman  find  himself  addressing  a  congregation  of 
more  than  five  hundred  persons ;  rarely,  indeed,  does  the 
public  lecturer  speak  to  a  thousand  persons ;  and  sel- 
dom, in  the  heat  of  a  campaign,  does  the  political  orator 
find  five  thousand  persons  within  the  reach  of  his  voice. 
Yet  a  little  editorial  paragraph,  placed  conspicuously 
on  the  editorial  page  of  the  New  York  Times,  will  be 
read  by  more  than  six  hundred  thousand  persons.  A 
million  and  a  half  newspapers  are  printed  in  New  York 
city  every  morning,  and  nearly  two  millions  every  after- 
noon, not  counting  those  printed  in  other  languages 
than  the  English  language  of  which  there  are  nearly  a 
million  more.  About  the  same  proportion  of  news- 
papers to  population  prevails  throughout  the  chief 
cities  of  the  United  States. 

"I  never  read  the  editorials"  we  all  have  heard  many 
a  newspaper  reader  say.  "I  simply  scan  the  editorials," 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  171 

we  hear  others  remark.  Almost  all  editorial  articles 
are  hastily  read,  and  so  is  the  entire  sheet  for  that 
matter.  You  have  only  to  watch  the  process  to  be 
convinced.  The  busy  man  opens  his  newspaper  to  the 
editorial  page  as  he  would  open  a  book,  holds  it  open 
and  high,  one  page  grasped  by  the  left  hand  and  the 
other  by  the  right.  He  scans  the  leading  article,  reads 
the  first  two  or  three  sentences  and  if  attention  is  not 
instantly  attracted  flashes  his  eye  down  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  next  paragraph,  and  so  on.  The  greater 
the  number  of  paragraphs  in  the  article  the  more  quick 
attention  it  gets.  The  sensational  sheet  editors  know 
this  and  they  make  many  paragraphs  in  every  article. 

The  profound  heavy  articles  with  three  or  four 
paragraphs  only  to  the  column  get  scant  attention  ex- 
cept from  readers  especially  interested  in  the  topic. 
They  are  looked  at  for  an  instant  only.  In  that  in- 
stant the  reader  decides  whether  he  is  interested  in  the 
topic.  Usually  he  is  not.  His  eye  skims  along  to  the 
next  article  with  same  result.  Then  he  may  encounter 
something  that  he  wants  to  know  more  about.  But  it 
is  half  a  column  long.  "I'll  read  it  when  I  get  time," 
he  says  to  himself,  as  his  eye  jumps  over  to  the  op- 
posite page — a  news  page — and  he  begins  to  absorb 
the  headlines.  These  he  treats  in  the  same  hasty  man- 
ner and  in  about  three  minutes  he  has  finished  the  two 
pages  and  has  turned  over  to  the  next  two. 

He  reads  all  in  the  same  way.  He  may  pause  over 
a  particular  article  but  usually  the  reading  is  of  short 
duration.  He  has  absorbed  perhaps  the  spirit  of  the 


172      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

headings  and  maybe  the  few  lines  of  introduction  to 
the  articles  that  have  had  his  attention.  He  is  ready 
with  an  opinion,  but  that  opinion  is  the  opinion  of 
the  man  who  wrote  the  caption  or  the  introduction. 
The  hasty  reader  has  given  the  subject  not  the  slight- 
est original  thought.  Nevertheless  he  is  influenced  by 
it.  It  is  recognized  that  almost  everything  we  read 
has  its  direct  or  its  unconscious  influence. 

Very  many  busy  men  confine  their  morning  news- 
paper reading  to  the  breakfast  table,  others  "get 
through"  their  newspaper  while  on  their  way  to  busi- 
ness. Very  little  newspaper  reading  has  their  attention 
after  reaching  the  office.  Evening  newspapers  are  read 
more  thoroughly.  There  is  more  time  after  dinner. 
The  comfortable  chair,  the  shaded  lamp,  the  family 
near  to  join  in  the  comment — all  help  to  make  the 
reading  more  enjoyable.  But  even  then  the  average 
reader  does  not  read  with  intent  attention. 

It  is  incontestably  true  that  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  wrho  read  the  newspapers  in  this  hasty  glancing 
fashion  do  not  think  deeply.  This  mental  attitude  has 
had  the  attention  of  observers  for  many  years.  Haw- 
thorne speaks  of  "the  wild  babble  of  the  town — indicat- 
ing a  low  tone  of  feeling  and  shallow  thought."  Ma- 
caulay  said  of  Tillotson:  "His  reasoning  was  just  suffi- 
ciently profound  and  sufficiently  refined  to  be  followed 
by  a  popular  audience  with  that  slight  degree  of  in- 
tellectual exertion  which  is  a  pleasure."  Lafcadio 
Hearn  speaks  of  the  masses  as  people  of  uncultured 
taste  to  whom  the  higher  zones  of  emotion  are  out  of 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  173 

reach.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  remarked:  "The  greatest 
part  of  mankind  have  no  other  reason  for  their  opinions 
than  that  they  are  in  fashion."  And  one  of  the  con- 
spicuous British  essayists  commented:  "It  serves  to 
show  in  what  a  slovenly  way  most  people  are  content  to 
think." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  ever  was  impressed  with  the 
influence  of  newspapers.  He  said: 

Do  you  ever  stop  to  think  that  millions  have  no  literature, 
no  school  and  almost  no  pulpit  but  the  press  ?  Not  one  man 
in  ten  reads  books,  but  every  one  of  us,  except  the  very 
helpless  poor,  satiates  himself  every  day  with  the  news- 
paper. It  is  the  parent,  school,  college,  theatre,  pulpit, 
example,  counsellor,  all  in  one.  Every  drop  in  our  blood 
is  colored  by  it. 

Some  one  has  said  of  newspaper  influence:  "Let  me 
write  the  headlines  and  you  may  write  the  rest,"  which 
was  another  way  of  saying:  "Let  me  handle  the  news 
and  you  may  write  the  editorial  articles,  the  criticisms 
and  the  other  things,  and  I  will  have  the  greater  in- 
fluence." It  always  has  been  a  debatable  question. 

Northcliffe,  the  conspicuous  figure  in  journalism  dur- 
ing the  great  war,  has  said : 

It  is  true  that  an  intelligently  conducted  newspaper  can 
inform  and  guide  public  opinion  but  this  is  done  more 
through  publishing  the  news  than  by  the  dictum  of  the 
editorial.  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth  shall 
make  you  free"  must  be  the  underlying  principle  of 
journalism  in  a  democracy. 

In  an  appeal  to  editors  to  help  spread  the  war  spirit, 
a  writer  in  the  Columbia  University  War  Papers  wrote : 


174       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

Editorials,  repeated  editorials,  are  both  desirable  and 
necessary.  But  to  one  reader  who  is  influenced  by  a  given 
editorial  many  hundreds  are  influenced  day  by  day  by  the 
headlines  of  the  paper  and  by  the  wording  and  form  of 
presentation  of  the  news.  It  is  therefore  to  a  considered 
and  continuous  policy  of  news  presentation  that  we  must 
look  primarily  for  help. 

Of  newspaper  influence  Arthur  Brisbane  has  said : 

There  never  was  a  corrupt  official  who  could  hear  without 
dread  the  growling  of  a  hundred  thousand  human  voices 
outside  his  door.  There  does  not  live  a  corrupt  official, 
however  hardened,  who  hears  without  alarm  the  opinions  of 
a  million  men  voiced  through  a  newspaper  which  they  trust. 

Thackeray's  famous  paragraph  with  reference  to 
newspaper  activities  is  often  quoted  as  illustrating  the 
power  of  the  press  through  her  writers.  Pendennis  and 
Warrington  are  passing  a  brilliantly  lighted  newspaper 
building.  Reporters  were  coming  out  or  were  dashing 
up  in  cabs,  and  Warrington  says: 

Look  at  that,  Pen.  There  she  is — the  great  engine,  she 
never  sleeps.  She  has  ambassadors  in  every  quarter  of  the 
world — her  couriers  upon  every  road.  Her  officers  march 
along  with  armies  and  her  envoys  walk  into  statesmen's 
cabinets.  They  are  ubiquitous.  Yonder  journal  has  an 
agent  at  this  minute  giving  bribes  in  Madrid;  and  another 
inspecting  the  price  of  potatoes  at  Covent  Garden.  Look, 
here  comes  the  foreign  express  galloping  in.  They  will  be 
able  to  give  news  to  Downing  street  tomorrow;  funds  will 
rise  or  fall,  fortunes  be  made  or  lost;  Lord  B  will  get  up, 
and  holding  the  paper  in  his  hand  and  seeing  the  noble 
Marquis  in  his  place,  will  make  a  great  speech;  and  Mr. 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  175 

Doolan  will  be  called  away  from  his  supper  at  the  back 
kitchen ;  for  he  is  sub-editor  and  sees  the  mail  on  the  news- 
paper sheet  before  he  goes  to  his  own. 

It  may  be  said  of  present-day  news  column  influence 
that  never  have  the  news  columns  been  so  free  from 
personal  feeling,  so  fair  to  foe.  The  public  has  never 
had  greater  confidence  in  them.  Almost  all  editors 
are  honest  in  desire  to  print  both  sides  of  an  important 
controversy.  They  have  come  to  know  it  is  best  policy. 
The  speeches  of  rival  partisans,  their  communications, 
their  activities,  have  well-nigh  as  conspicuous  places  in 
the  sheet  as  do  the  utterances  of  their  own  champions. 
This  helps  to  aid  unbiased  conclusion. 

Public  questions  never  have  had  such  elaborate  pub- 
licity as  in  recent  years,  never  have  been  so  intelligently 
understood ;  and  public  sentiment  has  not  hitherto  been 
so  active  or  so  influential. 

Indeed,  the  spirit  of  independent  fairness  has  be- 
come so  acute  that  not  infrequently  the  small  minority 
gets  a  prominence  that  it  does  not  deserve,  with  re- 
sulting danger  that  its  activities  may  be  mistaken  for 
genuine  public  sentiment. 

This  spirit  of  fairness  does  not  exist  of  course  in 
all  publications,  but  almost  all  newspapers  are  honest 
in  their  news  columns.  The  sheets  that  deliberately 
falsify  become  fewer  every  year.  The  influence  of  the 
news  columns  has  increased  vastly. 

For  individual  power  and  influence  Lord  Northcliffe 
stood  supreme  among  editors.  His  personal  triumphs 
during  the  war  were  decisive  and  far  reaching.  He  de- 


176       THE   YOUNG    MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

stroyed  one  British  cabinet  and  built  another.  He 
forced  the  reorganization  of  departments.  He  com- 
pelled changes  of  military  policy  and  action  and  he 
flabbergasted  pretty  nearly  everybody  who  opposed. 
One  of  his  distinguished  opponents  lamented  that 
Northcliffe  was  the  most  powerful  man  in  England's 
affairs  since  Cromwell. 

His  editorial  voice  reached  all  kinds  of  people 
through  the  score  or  more  of  daily,  weekly,  and  monthly 
publications  owned  or  controlled  by  him  all  over  the 
British  empire.  He  owned  the  Times  that  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years  had  endeared  itself  to  the 
British  well-to-do  and  upper  classes  for  its  trustworthy 
news  reports,  its  superior  editorial  comment  and  its 
fearless  political  criticism.  He  owned  the  Evening 
Mail  that  scattered  a  million  copies  daily  among  the 
common  people.  He  talked  every  day  to  millions  of 
people,  who,  while  not  thinking  profoundly  were  will- 
ing to  be  led  by  intellectual  excellence. 

Northcliffe's  methods  were  of  entrancing  interest 
to  those  who  observe  and  study  newspaper  influence. 
He  admits  that  in  the  beginning  he  was  fascinated  by 
the  American  sensational  press,  by  its  ways  of  doing 
things,  by  the  enormous  circulations  of  some  of  our 
editions.  Nothing  of  the  sort  existed  in  England 
twenty  years  ago  and  Northcliffe  was  the  first  to  in- 
troduce American  methods  there.  He  visited  us  more 
than  once  to  study  our  lurid  journalism.  He  took  sev- 
eral American  newspaper  men  to  help  him  in  London. 
He  was  impressed  with  Mr.  Pulitzer's  thought  that  our 


NEWSPAPER   INFLUENCE  177 

newspapers  were  too  high  toned,  were  written  over  the 
heads  of  the  masses ;  that  the  masses  were  ignorant  of 
what  was  going  on  because  they  could  not  understand 
the  newspapers,  and  that  a  sheet  written  in  simple 
language  and  sold  for  a  cent  must  be  popular.  He 
would  bring  his  sheet  down  to  the  comprehension  of  any 
man  who  could  read. 

Northcliffe  added  acute  sensationalism  to  this  gen- 
eral plan,  and  his  daily  newspapers  in  London,  Man- 
chester, Leeds,  Glasgow,  and  elsewhere  jumped  to  big 
circulations.  He  did  not  much  disturb  the  conservative 
news  policy  of  the  Times,  but  its  editorial  page  became 
livid.  Of  him  it  was  said : 

Sensationalism  is  his  gospel.  Every  day  must  have  its 
thrill;  every  paragraph  must  be  an  electric  shock.  Politics 
are  nothing;  parties  are  nothing;  principles  are  nothing; 
all  that  matters  is  that  the  great  public  shall  be  kept  hum- 
ming with  excitement.  He  believes  that  power  and  political 
influence  are  in  the  hands  of  the  multitude  and  that  the 
newspaper  having  the  ear  of  the  multitude  will  control 
the  tides  of  national  thought. 

Northcliffe's  unprecedented  attacks  on  the  Asquith 
government  made  the  world  gasp.  Friends  of  the 
cabinet  and  some  newspapers  urged  the  suspension  of 
his  publications  and  his  arrest  for  treason.  His  at- 
tacks continued.  The  government  did  not  notice  them. 
His  unlicensed  freedom  of  opinion  was  permitted.  The 
idiocy  of  the  Gallipoli  campaign  was  exposed.  The 
punishment  of  its  authors  was  demanded.  The  ineffi- 
ciency of  the  munitions  department  was  made  a  public 


178       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

scandal  and  reorganization  was  compelled.  North- 
cliffe  insisted  on  a  small  war  cabinet  and  on  many 
other  changes.  Asquith's  indecision  and  exasperating 
deliberation,  at  the  moment  when  quick  thought  and 
quick  deeds  were  vital,  filled  Northcliffe  with  rage. 
The  Asquith  ministry  fell  and  Northcliffe  named  the 
succession.  The  world  has  rarely  seen  such  an  ex- 
hibition of  newspaper  power. 

The  editor's  enemies  endeavored  to  minimize  the  in- 
cident. They  contended  that  Asquith's  fall  was  inevi- 
table after  the  failure  of  the  British  advance  on  the 
Somme  and  the  disaster  in  Roumania;  that  it  was  an- 
other instance  of  Northcliffe's  newspaper  smartness  in 
anticipating  a  coming  event,  urging  its  enactment  and 
then  taking  credit  for  compelling  it. 

This,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  a  venerable  editorial  de- 
vice for  making  newspaper  reputation — learn  what  is 
contemplated  by  the  government  or  some  one  else  and 
then  start  in  the  newspaper  a  raging  demand  for  it 
and  when  the  end  is  accomplished  take  all  the  credit 
for  it.  Northcliffe  was  an  adept  at  this  sort  of  thing. 
Indeed  his  enemies  accused  him  of  giving  the  impres- 
sion of  forcing  the  government  against  its  will.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  he  was  easily  the  commanding  figure  in 
the  journalism  of  the  world  during  the  war. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE  STUDY  OF  A  SPECIALTY— GREAT  AD- 
VANTAGE FOLLOWS  THE  MASTERY  OF 
TWO  OR  THREE  SUBJECTS 

Now,  if  our  ambitious  young  newspaper  man  intends 
to  be  the  editor  of  a  sheet  in  a  small  city  or  a  village, 
he  should  study  every  part  of  the  business  in  detail. 
But,  if  he  means  to  remain  on  a  big  city  staff  it  will 
be  to  his  advantage,  after  he  has  done  general  work 
for  two  or  three  years,  to  decide  what  particular  branch 
of  the  work  he  prefers  to  follow  and  then  bend  effort 
toward  that  end.  If  he  fancies  the  writing  of  editorial 
articles,  let  him  study  the  art  of  editorial  writing.  If 
he  aspires  to  executive  work,  such  as  is  done  by  manag- 
ing and  city  editors,  let  him  prepare  accordingly.  But, 
if  he  desires  to  continue  on  the  general  writing  staff 
he  will  find  it  very  much  to  his  advantage — in  connec- 
tion with  his  general  work — to  study  a  specialty  or 
two.  In  the  newspaper  office  the  man  who  knows  most 
about  a  given  topic  is  the  man  summoned  to  write  on 
that  topic.  The  expert  on  national  politics  is  sent 
to  the  national  political  conventions  and  the  man  who 
knows  most  about  finance  must  write  the  big  stories 
of  financial  moment — just  as  in  football  the  best  kicker 
is  called  on  to  kick  the  goal. 

179 


180       THE   YOUNG    MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

Now,  of  newspaper  specialties  there  is  no  end.  Let 
yours  be  one  in  which  you  will  be  interested,  to  master 
which  will  be  a  delight.  One  young  man  of  my  ac- 
quaintance became  fascinated  with  astronomy  and  he 
studied  it  between  times  while  working  at  his  news- 
paper desk,  mastered  it,  became  an  authority  on  the 
subject,  and  was  soon  in  demand  as  a  writer  of  astro- 
nomical articles  and  astronomical  books. 

Another  young  man  became  interested  in  geography 
and  exploration  until  he  obtained  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  land  and  the  seas  that  decorate  this  fascinating 
old  earth.  His  articles  were  soon  in  demand  at  alti- 
tudinous  rates.  He  hobnobs  with  explorers,  directs 
in  geographical  societies,  superintends  in  the  making 
of  maps,  delivers  lectures  and  writes  constantly — and 
still  the  wonder  grows  that  he  can  get  so  much  out 
of  it. 

Men  who  can  write  with  authority  on  the  subject 
of  music  are  especially  welcome  in  newspaper  offices, 
and  a  writer  who  knows  engineering  and  construction 
has  a  splendid  specialty  in  these  days  of  machinery, 
enormous  buildings  and  marvelous  public  works. 

But,  conspicuously  above  all  other  newspaper  spe- 
cialties let  me  put  politics,  and  next  to  politics  in  my 
opinion  comes  finance.  In  a  whimsical  sense  they  may 
be  said  to  go  together,  for  do  we  not  see  occasionally 
that  politics  has  to  be  financed  and  that  finance  is  at 
the  mercy  of  politics.  Each  in  itself  is  highly  im- 
portant and  together  they  rule  the  world.  Of  politics 
there  is  no  end — never  has  been — never  will  be.  Year 


THE   STUDY   OF   A   SPECIALTY  181 

in  and  year  out  its  discussion  fills  more  than  one-half 
of  the  editorial  page.  For  centuries  it  has  commanded 
the  supreme  mental  attention  of  statesmen  and  writers. 
It  always  furnishes  the  great  public  issue,  and  here  in 
America  we  all  take  part  in  it  through  our  right  to 
vote  and  through  our  knowledge  of  the  parties  and 
the  issues  and  the  men  who  represent  them  as  set  forth 
in  the  newspapers  which  we  all  read.  We  might  easily 
carry  this  suggestion  to  indefinite  lengths,  proving  by 
argument  and  by  facts  that  a  supreme  knowledge  of 
this  subject  must  be  of  greater  usefulness  to  the  news- 
paper writer  than  any  other  specialty;  and  it  may  be 
added,  in  all  truth,  that  no  man  can  become  a  really 
great  editor  without  an  intimate  knowledge  of  politics. 

Only  a  little  less  important  to  newspaper  men  as  a 
special  study  is  the  subject  of  finance.  That  melange 
of  mystery  called  Wall  Street  we  have  always  with  us. 
Its  doings  are  deep  and  mysterious  to  the  uninstructed, 
but  plain  as  a  pancake  to  him  who  has  studied  them. 
The  finances  of  the  nation  always  have  had  public  at- 
tention. John  Fiske,  in  his  admirable  work  called 
"The  Critical  Period  of  the  American  Republic,"  has 
shown  how  for  eight  or  ten  years  after  the  Revolution- 
ary War  the  young  nation  was  on  the  verge  of  destruc- 
tion through  inability  to  finance  its  poverty.  Since 
then  we  have  had  a  dozen  financial  convulsions  called 
panics,  each  one  followed  by  business  depression  and 
endless  newspaper  discussions  of  causes  and  possible 
effects.  Alway  they  must  continue. 

This  particular  study  includes  an  enormous  range 


182       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

of  topics,  including  the  banking  business  and  banking 
systems  public  and  private  at  home  and  abroad,  inter- 
national monetary  systems,  foreign  exchange,  gold  ex- 
ports and  imports,  tariff  imposition,  currency  systems, 
commercial  credits,  problems  of  transportation,  the 
financing  of  great  undertakings  through  the  issue  of 
stocks  and  bonds,  the  buying  and  selling  of  our  enor- 
mous agricultural  product  as  well  as  the  product  of  our 
factories — and  many  other  kindred  topics  which  con- 
tribute to  the  live  news  of  the  day  and  afford  important 
subjects  for  editorial  comment. 

The  principles  of  finance  are  given  in  various  text- 
books, but  their  practical  application  can  be  made  only 
through  knowledge  of  causes  which  change  from  day  to 
day  and  which  are  recorded  in  current  publications. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  politics  of  the  day. 

Almost  all  young  men  like  to  write  about  sporting 
contests  because  they  are  interested  and  because  they 
enjoy  seeing  the  game.  The  public  demand  for  su- 
perior sporting  news  has  compelled  the  printing  of 
from  one  to  three  pages  of  it  daily,  and  the  good  sport- 
ing writer  is  usually  in  demand.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
catch  the  knack  of  writing  for  the  sporting  page,  but 
thorough  technical  knowledge  is  required.  Interest 
in  sporting  contests  seems  to  be  increasing  of  late  years. 
They  must  for  a  long  time  to  come  consume  much  news- 
paper space. 

Also,  young  writers  usually  are  ambitious  to  pen 
theatrical  criticism.  They  are  interested  in  the  theaters 
and  like  to  attend  them.  But  this  work  is  given  to 


THE  STUDY   OF   A   SPECIALTY  183 

men  of  experience,  as  a  rule.  The  field  is  limited,  the 
number  of  dramatic  critics  required  is  very  few,  and 
for  various  reasons  the  post  when  attained  is  of  pre- 
carious permanency. 

The  writing  of  book  reviews  is  commonly  an  early 
ambition  of  the  college  graduate  especially.  It  fas- 
cinates with  its  promise  of  literary  research  under  the 
soft  glow  of  the  student  lamp,  the  welcome  warmth 
of  the  cushion  study  chair,  and  the  silent  inspiration 
of  dusky  volumes  on  the  library  shelves.  And  delight- 
fully clean  and  interesting  work  it  is,  to  be  sure,  well 
worthy  any  student's  quest.  Many  newspapers  print 
a  literary  supplement  once  a  week  and  it  busies  many 
pens.  Usually  it  is  under  the  direction  of  an  editor 
whose  exclusive  task  is  to  provide  the  matter  for  its 
columns.  A  large  proportion  of  the  new  books  sent 
for  review  are  given  out  to  members  of  the  editorial 
or  writing  staff  whose  attention  to  them  is  in  the  na- 
ture of  extra  work;  but  some  are  sent  to  persons  out- 
side the  office.  The  labors  of  the  literary  editor  of  a 
big  city  journal  are  constant  and  exacting  for  nearly 
every  book  published  is  sent  to  him  and  they  are  num- 
bered in  thousands.  He  has  to  provide  for  special 
articles  on  literary  topics,  also,  for  answers  to  cor- 
respondents, and  he  has  to  prepare  for  printing  proper 
announcements  of  forthcoming  publications  which  he 
sifts  from  a  mass  of  matter  furnished  by  publishers. 
Very  many  books  are  sent  to  the  daily  newspapers  in 
the  smaller  cities,  attention  to  which  is  usually  divided 
among  various  members  of  the  staff. 


184      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

The  general  writer  on  a  staff  seldom  acquires  more 
than  a  general  knowledge  of  the  topic  he  is  writing  of ; 
the  specialist  has  expert  knowledge,  and  often  it  is 
sought  to  his  very  great  advantage  by  business  or 
other  outside  interests.  In  these  hustling  times  the 
expert  in  almost  any  line  of  study  finds  himself  in 
demand. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  ACTIVITIES  AND  PATRIOTIC  SERVICE 
OF  NEWSPAPERS  IN  TIMES  OF  WAR 

THE  war  correspondent  is  perhaps  the  most  pic- 
turesque figure  in  journalism.  He  endures  the  dangers 
and  the  hardships  of  war  as  does  the  soldier,  pos- 
sibly more  so,  for  no  one  looks  out  for  him  in  the 
field  or  especially  cares  how  he  fares.  He  has  some 
glorious  moments;  but  for  the  most  part  his  time  is 
consumed  in  heart-breaking  effort  to  overcome  ob- 
stacles. His  reputation  depends  on  his  success  in  deal- 
ing with  these  difficulties. 

The  reporting  of  other  wars  was  easy  compared 
with  the  late  World  War.  In  the  South  African  cam- 
paign, for  example,  the  London  newspapers  were  per- 
mitted to  send  as  many  correspondents  as  they  chose 
and  they  went  when  and  where  they  pleased.  The 
London  Daily  Mail  had  thirty-six  men  there  with  a 
staff  editor  in  command — the  other  London  newspapers 
about  the  same  number  each.  And  all  were  competing 
in  hustle  and  grab  to  get  news  and  flash  it  to  the  home 
office.  With  little  censorship  and  no  restriction  the  re- 
porting of  that  war  was  not  difficult.  And  this  was 

185 


186       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

true  of  nearly  all  war  reporting  up  to  the  conflict  be- 
tween Turkey  and  the  Balkans  in  1912. 

But  the  great  war,  1914-1918,  was  started  with 
almost  as  much  hostility  toward  the  correspondent  as 
toward  the  enemy.  As  though  by  common  consent,  all 
the  conflicting  nations  sought  to  crush  him.  Every 
big  newspaper  in  all  the  world  wanted  to  send  a  cor- 
respondent to  the  firing  lines:  some  of  them  wanted 
to  send  two,  four,  six,  even  more,  for  the  line  of  battle 
soon  became  more  than  a  hundred  miles  long  in  France 
and  much  longer  on  the  Russian  frontier.  At  first  not 
any  were  permitted  to  approach  the  firing  front  or 
even  the  division  headquarters  and  the  correspondents 
worked  under  great  disadvantage.  A  strict  censorship 
was  made  over  the  little  information  they  were  able  to 
obtain.  It  was  very  unsatisfactory.  At  this  time 
London  was  almost  entirely  without  information  about 
the  war.  The  solemn  silence  with  reference  to  the 
armies  and  the  fighting  served  to  dampen  enthusiasm 
and  patriotic  ardor.  Calls  for  enlistments  were  ig- 
nored, recruiting  came  to  a  standstill.  Lists  of  the 
dead  began  to  appear,  adding  to  the  gloom.  No  stir- 
ring descriptions  of  personal  heroism  or  glorious 
achievement  were  printed.  The  newspapers  made  a 
great  row  about  it  and  the  people  joined  in. 

It  was  not  until  later,  when  the  papers  were  permitted 
to  print  stirring  news  from  the  front  of  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  the  battle  tides,  that  enthusiasm  was  aroused  and 
England  made  splendid  response  to  the  call  for  fighting 
men.  The  government  at  length  came  to  appreciate 


NEWSPAPERS    IN    TIMES   OF    WAR  187 

that  to  suppress  all  war  news  was  to  breed  indifference ; 
and  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  censorship  was  re- 
laxed, public  spirit  was  aroused. 

All  of  the  London  newspapers  made  the  most  elab- 
orate preparations  to  report  the  war.  Those  of  the 
Times  were  perhaps  the  most  comprehensive  and  may 
serve  as  illustration.  It  sent  ninety  correspondents  to 
the  army  fronts  scattering  them  all  along  the  lines. 
They  were,  in  the  main,  high  priced  men  and  the  ex- 
penditure amounted  to  something  like  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  a  week.  But  the  censors  shut  them  out  entirely. 
They  were  not  allowed  within  miles  of  the  fighting  lines 
and  were  forbidden  to  send  a  scrap  of  news.  It  was 
useless  to  keep  them  there  and  they  were  recalled.  The 
only  news  printed  in  London,  Paris,  or  Berlin,  at  first, 
were  the  government  reports. 

It  was  in  response  to  public  clamor  for  more  news 
that  a  new  plan  of  war  reporting  was  adopted,  namely, 
the  syndicating  of  news.  Very  few  correspondents  were 
permitted  on  the  firing  line  and  each  man  represented  a 
number  of  newspapers.  In  1918,  for  example,  as  many 
as  eight  or  ten  English  newspapers  shared  the  work  of 
one  man.  Renter's  agency  had  a  man  at  all  fronts. 
His  reports  went  to  all  newspapers.  This  was  a  great 
service  and  also  a  great  saving  to  the  smaller  sheets; 
but  the  big  newspapers  wanted  their  own  men  to  do 
their  work. 

In  London,  a  combination  of  all  the  daily  papers  was 
formed,  called  the  Newspaper  Proprietors  Association, 
and  it  made  virtually  all  arrangements  for  reporting 


188      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

the  war.  If  a  member  had  in  mind  a  good  thing  to  do 
he  was  required  by  the  arrangement  to  tell  it  to  all  the 
others,  for  nothing  could  be  done  except  under  this 
cooperative  scheme.  These  conditions  destroyed  all 
competition.  Newspaper  "beats",  disappeared.  It  was 
a  very  unsatisfactory  arrangement.  There  was  no  free- 
dom of  movement  for  individual  publications.  And  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  a  similar  system  will  prevail  in 
future  wars.  No  room,  no  facilities  for  several  hun- 
dred correspondents  are  to  be  had  at  the  field  head- 
quarters of  a  fighting  army.  The  number  must  be  re- 
stricted and  the  news  passed  around  to  all  newspapers. 

In  the  latter  months  of  the  war,  conditions,  as  com- 
pared with  the  first  months,  were  reversed.  Censorship 
was  relaxed  somewhat  and  correspondents  were  allowed 
to  approach  the  battle  lines  with  greater  freedom.  The 
syndicating  plan  was  not  changed.  It  worked  more 
smoothly  as  the  writers  had  more  liberty  but  it  was 
not  ever  satisfactory  to  the  newspapers.  The  feeling 
of  resentment  toward  the  presence  of  correspondents 
in  the  field  somewhat  passed  away.  The  writers  who 
kept  faith  and  observed  the  censorship  rules  were  made 
more  welcome.  But  army  officers  never  have  been  recon- 
ciled to  the  presence  of  correspondents  and  doubtless 
never  will  be. 

It  was  difficult  for  the  newspapers  to  obtain  quick 
news  of  the  war  for  reasons  already  mentioned,  yet, 
reviewing  the  months  of  the  conflict,  it  is  difficult  to 
recall  any  serious  misrepresentation  of  facts  or  condi- 
tions. We  understood  always,  with  substantial  ac- 


NEWSPAPERS   IN   TIMES  OF   WAH  189 

curacy,  how  many  men  each  power  had  in  the  field,  where 
the  armies  were  gathered,  what  the  losses  were,  what 
advantages  had  been  gained  or  surrendered,  and  sub- 
stantially how  things  were  going. 

The  war  was  not  reported  with  especial  brilliancy 
until  just  before  its  end.  In  the  closing  months  some 
very  fine  work  was  done,  but  until  then  dull  routine  nar- 
ration was  the  vogue.  Censorship,  the  syndicate  re- 
quirement, the  never  ceasing  congestion  of  the  wires, 
the  compelled  reduction  in  the  size  of  newspapers,  were 
the  chief  causes  for  the  moderation.  A  correspondent 
who  knows  that  his  matter  is  to  be  cut  and  slashed  two 
or  three  times  by  censors  before  it  reaches  his  editor 
loses  much  of  the  inspiration  to  brilliant  work. 

For  the  first  time  in  any  war,  correspondents  were 
compelled  to  wear  a  uniform — the  ordinary  officers'  uni- 
form without  any  mark  or  rank,  but  with  a  green  bras- 
sard around  the  left  upper  arm.  Each  correspondent 
was  compelled  to  provide  himself  with  everything  needed 
in  the  field  including  his  transport  which  meant  motor 
car  and  horses.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  cor- 
respondent's expenses  were  about  eight  hundred  dollars 
a  month.  The  correspondents  were  paid  from  four 
thousand  to  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year  salary,  three 
or  four  of  especial  reputation  getting  more  than  the 
latter  sum. 

The  war  involved  vast  additional  expense  to  news- 
papers. The  cost  of  maintaining  men  in  the  field  and 
in  news  centers,  the  cost  of  transmitting  dispatches, 
especially  through  the  cables,  as  well  as  the  enormously 


190       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

increased  price  of  every  product  that  entered  into  news- 
paper construction  helped  to  swell  the  total.  The  in- 
crease in  the  price  of  printing  paper  alone  cost  our 
newspapers  of  large  circulation  an  additional  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars  or  nine  hundred  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  Instead  of  paying  from  seven  to  ten 
cents  a  word  for  cable  transmission,  as  before  the  war, 
the  press  paid  latterly  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  cents 
from  London  and  Paris.  Some  papers  paid  as  much  as 
one  thousand  dollars  for  single  dispatches  and  fre- 
quently expended  ten  thousand  dollars  a  week  for  the 
transmission  of  war  reports.  In  the  Gallipoli  drive,  mes- 
sages were  sent  to  Constantinople  by  automobile,  thence 
wired  to  Vienna,  relayed  to  Berlin,  relayed  again  to 
The  Hague  and  again  to  London,  whence  cabled  to 
America  at  a  total  cost  of  about  a  dollar  and  a  half 
a  word.  Yet  we  failed  to  note  any  relaxation  of  effort 
or  of  expense  on  the  part  of  American  newspapers  to 
get  the  news.  It  is  an  axiom  of  the  business  that  the 
very  life  of  the  sheet  depends  on  a  lavish  expenditure 
for  the  purchase  of  information.  The  big  newspapers 
were  compelled  to  have  special  correspondents  in  all  the 
big  centers  of  allied,  belligerent  and  neutral  countries, 
to  cover  the  political  situation  and  other  things  arising 
from  the  administrative  state  of  the  war.  For  example, 
Holland  was  the  center  of  German  news,  being  on  the 
frontier  and  on  the  main  route.  Here,  naturally,  a  man 
obtained  the  big  German  news  first  of  all,  the  German 
newspapers,  the  narratives  of  persons  passing  from 
Germany.  Switzerland  was  a  news  center  of  almost 


NEWSPAPERS   IN   TIMES   OF   WAR  191 

equal  importance  for  the  same  reasons.  Sweden  and 
Norway  had  to  be  covered.  It  was  very  trying  for  the 
newspapers,  very  expensive. 

In  reporting  the  great  war  the  newspapers  were  under 
great  disadvantage  in  consequence  of  the  censorship. 
It  was  the  more  exacting  in  the  European  cities,  for 
there  it  included  the  censorship  of  comment  as  well  as 
news ;  but  much  more  important  war  news  was  per- 
mitted to  pass  through  the  Atlantic  cables  than  was 
permitted  to  be  published  in  London,  Paris,  or  Berlin. 
Nevertheless,  every  cable  message,  every  mail  letter  to 
America  was  carefully  scrutinized.  The  letters  found 
objectionable  were  destroyed;  the  cables  were  changed 
or  suppressed  at  the  censor's  will.  Dispatches  from 
Paris  to  America  by  the  way  of  London  were  censored 
in  Paris  and  again  in  London  and  also  on  arrival  in 
America.  Messages  from  Vienna  were  censored  in  that 
city,  in  Berlin,  in  London  and  again  in  America.  But 
with  our  entrance  into  the  war  all  messages  from  Ger- 
many and  Austria  ceased,  practically.  At  the  time 
Servia  was  crushed,  American  correspondents  tele- 
graphed some  fifteen  thousand  words  describing  the  con- 
quest, not  one  word  of  which  reached  New  York.  The 
reports  reached  London  and  were  held  there  because 
thought  to  be  news  damaging  to  the  cause  of  the  allies. 
An  American  correspondent  early  in  the  war  sent  four 
reports  of  the  Champagne  advance.  One  third  of  one 
of  them  was  delivered.  Other  correspondents  had  the 
same  experience  at  this  time. 

In  justification  of  censorship  and  in  appeal  to  the 


192      THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

press  for  its  aid,  the  War  College  in  Washington,  in 
the  late  war,  cited  instances  of  mischief  done  in  other 
campaigns.  In  the  Crimean  War  the  English  news- 
papers gave  the  Russians  most  valuable  information 
about  the  nature  of  the  trenches  and  the  condition  of 
the  armies.  Wellington  complained  that  the  English 
press  gave  to  Napoleon  full  details  of  his  troops  and 
movements.  The  result  of  the  battle  of  Sadowa,  in  the 
Austro-Prussian  War,  was  largely  determined  by  a  re- 
port in  the  London  Times  which  told  that  the  Austrians 
were  encamped  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Elbe.  Na- 
poleon's letters  from  St.  Helena  attested  that  he  kept 
accurate  track  of  the  movements  of  the  English  fleets 
and  armies  by  London  newspaper  reports.  The  Eng- 
lish had  always  given  him  credit  for  a  crafty  spy  sys- 
tem, not  appreciating  that  the  letters  of  English  officers 
which  filled  the  newspapers,  were  a  part  source  of  his 
information.  In  the  Franco-Prussian  War  the  French 
journals  gave  the  Prussians  full  particulars  of  Mc- 
Mahon's  concentration  at  Chalons,  his  march  to 
Rheims,  and  his  advance  to  the  Meuse.  The  Prussians 
so  directed  their  army  movements  that  the  French  sur- 
render at  Sedan  was  forced.  The  advance  of  the  French 
army  for  the  relief  of  Bazine  at  Metz,  the  success  of 
which  depended  on  secrecy,  became  known  to  the  Prus- 
sians through  the  French  and  English  newspapers.  In 
our  own  Civil  War,  General  Sherman's  famous  march 
through  Georgia  to  the  sea  was  largely  directed  by 
newspaper  reports  and  by  President  Jefferson  Davis's 
speeches  explaining  how  Sherman  was  to  be  cut  off, 


NEWSPAPERS   IN    TIMES   OF   WAR  193 

which  were  printed  in  the  Southern  press.  And  the 
War  Office  warning  told  how  in  the  Spanish- American 
War  of  1898,  the  success  of  the  American  expedition 
that  concentrated  at  Tampa  was  seriously  menaced. 
Every  military  movement  was  reported  in  our  news- 
papers and  the  Spanish  Government  had  within  a  few 
hours  complete  accounts  of  the  American  preparations 
for  war. 

The  War  Office  document  made  observations  on  the 
influence  of  the  press  in  times  of  war  in  the  following 
fashion : 

The  press,  powerful  in  peace,  may  become  more  so  in 
war.  By  its  editorials  and  presentation  of  news  it  may 
sway  the  people  for  or  against  the  war,  and  thus  stimulate 
recruiting  and  hearten  and  encourage  the  fighting  forces 
in  their  work,  or,  by  adverse  criticism,  may  tend  to  destroy 
the  efficiency  of  these  agencies. 

It  may  by  publishing  names  of  organizations,  numbers, 
movements,  accounts  of  victories  or  defeats,  furnish  in- 
formation to  the  enemy  that  will  enable  him  to  deduce  the 
strength  and  location  and  intended  movements  of  our  own 
troops. 

By  criticism  of  the  conduct  of  campaigns,  the  action  of 
certain  officers  or  exploiting  others,  the  people  will  be  led 
to  lose  confidence  in  the  army  with  the  result  that  the  moral 
support  of  the  people  is  lost;  they  cry  for  and  obtain  new 
generals  and  new  plans  of  campaign,  not  based  on  expert 
knowledge  and  thought  with  a  consequent  lengthening  of 
the  war  or  even  defeat. 

War  has  added  greatly  to  our  information  about  for- 
eign countries.  We  studied  their  geography  as  we 
followed  their  armies,  their  history  as  we  became  inter- 


194       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

ested  in  various  regions.  We  have  come  to  know  of 
their  resources,  their  products,  their  agricultural  and 
their  financial  condition.  Every  day  for  more  than 
four  years,  in  hundreds  of  newspapers'  columns,  we  read 
of  their  statesmen,  their  generals,  admirals,  soldiers, 
sailors,  their  people,  their  purpose,  their  patriotism, 
and  their  courage.  We  know  of  their  cabinets  and  their 
parliaments  as  never  before,  their  industrial  troubles, 
their  petty  politics  as  well  as  those  larger  problems 
that  require  diplomatic  interference.  The  war  brought 
us  into  a  new  intimacy  with  almost  all  the  nations  of 
the  globe.  It  incubated  hundreds  of  new  problems. 

It  must  be  quite  impossible  for  the  public  to  appre- 
ciate the  patriotic  assistance  and  the  pecuniary  sacri- 
fice of  the  newspapers  in  the  war.  They  surrendered 
hundreds  of  pages  to  appeals  for  aid,  to  arousing  inter- 
est, to  patriotic  propaganda.  Let  us  glance  at  the 
work  of  a  single  sheet: 

Mr.  William  H.  Field  of  the  Chicago  Tribune  at- 
tested (April,  1918)  that  at  that  time  his  newspaper 
was  devoting  fifty  per  cent  of  its  space,  other  than  ad- 
vertising, to  matters  concerning  the  war.  In  response 
to  the  question,  "What  can  we  do  to  help  win  the  war?" 
it  was  decided  to  serve  patriotic  purposes  both  prac- 
tical and  inspirational.  Mr.  Field  said: 

In  the  Sunday  edition,  fiction  section,  we  print  at  least 
one  patriotic  story.  The  pictorial  supplement  contains  war 
photographs  and  portraits  of  military  leaders. 

The  woman's  department  is  devoted  largely  to  war  serv- 
ice. One  section  is  given  to  the  work  of  the  Red  Cross  and 


NEWSPAPERS   IN    TIMES   OF   WAR  195 

especially  to  its  needs.  We  give  scientific  and  practical 
information  about  food  and  preach  economy  and  conserva- 
tion in  cooking  and  urge  cooperation  with  the  Food  Ad- 
ministrator. 

We  advocate  the  making  of  war  gardens  and  give  explicit 
directions. 

We  have  a  Camp  Stories  contest  in  which  we  encourage 
soldiers  to  send  short  stories  of  camp  life. 

We  print  one  page  of  signed  editorials  on  the  war.  The 
idea  of  the  page  is  to  give  articles  such  as  may  be  found  in 
magazines  of  the  caliber  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  the  Yale 
Review,  the  North  American  Review  and  the  New  Republic. 

On  the  club  page  we  have  one  article  and  picture  from 
the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  State  Council  of  National 
Defense. 

Under  the  heading  "Woman  in  War  Time"  we  report  the 
activities  of  the  various  patriotic  women's  organizations. 

A  three  or  four  thousand  word  letter  of  society  gossip 
has  been  a  feature  for  many  years.  I  find  in  the  last  one 
fifteen  hundred  words  devoted  to  the  work  of  the  Woman's 
Committee  on  the  Liberty  Loan  campaign,  one  hundred 
words  on  war  talk  at  one  of  the  clubs,  five  hundred  on  the 
entertainment  of  soldiers  and  sailors,  five  hundred  words  to 
the  Woman's  Land  Army,  three  hundred  words  on  the  work 
of  women  in  munitions  factories,  five  hundred  to  appeals 
for  war  donations  from  New  York  committees,  and  three 
hundred  words  on  a  sale  of  Easter  cards  for  the  benefit  of 
the  wounded.  This  one  article,  indexed  as  "Society  Letter" 
is  one  hundred  per  cent  war  propaganda.  The  only  feature 
section  not  contributing  to  war  material  is  the  comic  section. 

What  has  been  true  of  the  Chicago  Tribune  was  true 
also  of  nearly  all  the  important  newspapers  of  the 
United  States.  Nothing  was  permitted  to  come  before 
the  most  insignificant  bit  of  war  information.  The 


196      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

newspapers  made  all  news  subordinate  to  war  news. 
Day  after  day  no  other  intelligence  than  war  news  ap- 
peared on  the  first  page  of  our  metropolitan  sheets. 
With  glowing  patriotism  they  surrendered  column  after 
column  to  appeals  for  help  for  Belgium  and  for  scores 
of  other  charities  growing  out  of  the  war,  and  not  in  all 
the  long  years  did  they  cease  to  print  appeals.  Through 
the  cooperation  of  the  newspapers  millions  on  millions 
were  raised  before  we  entered  the  war.  Then  began  re- 
newed efforts  to  help  the  Red  Cross,  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and 
kindred  organizations.  And  in  still  greater  patriotic 
endeavor  the  press  of  America  urged  support  of  the 
Liberty  Loans  and  the  thrift  stamp  movements. 

The  newspapers  spoke  for  the  national  government. 
They  printed  the  government  appeals.  They  counted 
not  the  cost  to  themselves  although  every  additional 
page  meant  hundreds  if  not  thousands  of  dollars  in 
additional  expense.  In  no  other  way  could  the  govern- 
ment so  quickly  reach  the  people.  The  President's  ap- 
peal to  public  sentiment,  the  treasury's  call  for  finan- 
cial aid,  the  plans  for  taxation,  the  demands  for  con- 
servation of  food  and  resources,  the  thousand  and  one 
suggestions  to  the  people  were  all  before  the  people  in 
less  than  twenty-four  hours  in  every  city  of  this  broad 
land.  Through  the  press,  the  government  could  almost 
instantly  communicate  its  wishes  to  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  the  people.  Yet  the  attitude  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  especially  of  Congress,  was  that  of  antagon- 
ism to  the  press  and  in  some  directions  almost  of  hos- 
tility. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

NEWSPAPER  HISTORY— THE  MODERN 
NEWSPAPER 

THE  young  man  contemplating  journalism  may  be 
interested  in  the  beginnings  of  the  business.  The  little 
known  about  them  is  abundantly  repeated  in  various 
histories.  China  seems  to  have  been  the  pioneer  at  a 
time  before  the  Christian  era.  But  the  records  of  those 
early  years  are  hazy.  It  is  known  that  the  Peking 
Gazette,  as  the  sheet  now  is  called,  has  been  in  continu- 
ous publication  since  the  year  618  and  mention  is  made 
of  the  Peking  News  as  being  much  older.  News-sheets 
printed  in  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  speak  of  their  es- 
teemed contemporaries  published  in  China. 

Before  the  invention  of  type  and  printing  all  com- 
munications intended  for  public  consumption  were  writ- 
ten on  papyrus  sheets  and  were  hanged  in  the  market 
places,  or  were  read  to  the  people,  or  were  circulated  in 
various  ways. 

Fifty  years  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  the  Roman 
government  sent  out  an  official  sheet  for  the  informa- 
tion of  its  public  servants,  the  army,  and  the  people, 
and  this  publication  was  continued  for  many  years. 
Latterly  it  was  called  A  eta  Diuma  (Daily  News)  and 
it  seems  to  have  been  exceedingly  popular. 

197 


198       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

The  public  appetite  for  news  and  gossip  appears  to 
have  been  quite  as  voracious  then  as  now.  The  news- 
sheets  were  almost  sensational  in  their  telling  of  scan- 
dals, of  murders,  and  the  details  of  crime.  There  seems 
to  have  been  little  regard  for  the  proprieties  in  those 
days,  for  we  read  in  the  Act  a  Diurna  that  "the  funeral 
of  Marcia  was  performed  with  greater  pomp  of  images 
than  attendance  of  mourners."  Extracts  from  Cicero's 
speeches  are  given,  and  one  commentator  writes: 

When  Cicero  was  sent  as  governor  to  Cilica  he  asked  a 
friend  to  send  him  the  news  of  Rome.  The  friend  employed 
scribes,  the  reporters  of  that  day,  to  gather  the  information 
and  prepare  the  letters.  The  man  who  wrote  the  first 
letters  reported  everything  from  the  procedure  of  the  Senate 
to  the  result  of  the  latest  gladiatorial  contest.  Cicero  ob- 
jected to  his  methods  and  complained  that  the  letters  con- 
tained items  that  he  would  not  have  bothered  with  when  at 
home.  What  he  wanted,  he  explains,  was  advance  informa- 
tion to  keep  him  in  touch  with  the  political  movements  of 
the  time. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  the  Caesars  that  the  news- 
sheets  were  in  full  request.  They  were  written  in  Latin, 
of  course,  and  were  marvels  of  the  penman's  art  on 
papyrus ;  and  they  were  expressed  with  an  epigrammic 
terseness  and  a  snap  that  might  well  be  imitated  to-day. 
Dr.  Johnson  translates  a  few  of  them  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  as  follows : 

The  Latin  festivals  were  celebrated,  a  sacrifice  performed 
on  the  Alban  Mount,  and  a  dole  of  fish  distributed  to  the 
people. 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  199 

A  fire  has  happened  on  Mount  Coelius;  two  trisulae  and 
five  houses  were  consumed  and  four  damaged. 

Demiphone,  the  famous  pirate,  who  was  taken  by  Licinus 
Nerva,  a  provincial  lieutenant,  was  crucified. 

The  red  standard  was  displayed  at  the  Capitol  and  the 
Consuls  obliged  the  youth  who  were  enlisted  for  the  Mace- 
donian war  to  take  a  new  oath  in  the  Campus  Martius. 

The  Aedile  Tertinius  fined  the  butchers  for  selling  meat 
which  had  not  been  inspected  by  the  market  overseers.  The 
fine  is  to  be  used  to  build  a  chapel  for  the  temple  of  Tellus. 

M.  Tullius  Cicero  pleaded  in  defense  of  Cornelius  Sylla, 
accused  by  Torquatus  of  being  concerned  in  Catiline's  con- 
spiracy and  gained  his  cause  by  a  majority  of  five  judges. 
The  Tribunes  of  the  Treasury  were  against  the  defendant. 
One  of  the  Praetors  advertised  by  an  edict  that  he  should 
put  off  his  sittings  for  five  days  on  account  of  his  daughter's 
marriage. 

A  report  was  brought  to  Tertinius,  the  praetor,  while 
he  was  trying  cases  at  his  tribunal,  that  his  son  was  dead. 
This  was  contrived  by  the  friends  of  Coponius,  who  was 
accused  of  poisoning,  that  the  praetor  might  adjourn  the 
court;  but  the  magistrate  having  discovered  the  falsity  of 
the  story,  returned  to  his  tribunal  and  continued  in  taking 
information  against  the  accused. 

After  Caesar's  time  the  Roman  sheets  gradually  dis- 
appeared and  newspaper  history  becomes  very  misty. 
News  publications  reappeared,  however,  in  Vienna  and 
in  Augsburg  in  1524  and  Pendleton  in  his  "Newspaper 
Reporting  in  Olden  Time  and  To-day,"  after  quoting 
Chalmers  in  his  "Life  of  Ruddiman,"  observes : 

But  he  admits  that  the  first  modern  sheet  of  news  ap- 
peared in  Venice  about  the  year  1536,  that  it  was  manu- 
script, and  was  read  aloud  in  certain  parts  of  the  city — a 


200      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

journal  that  proved  a  great  attraction,  for  it  was  issued 
once  a  month  only,  and  narrated  in  polished  stirring  words 
how  the  Venetians  fared  in  their  war  against  Turkey.  The 
fee  paid  for  reading  this  sheet  in  manuscript  was  a  gaz- 
zetta,  and  the  news-sheet  gradually  got  the  name  of  the 
coin  (The  Gazette).  At  least  Blount,  in  his  Glossographia 
published  in  the  seventeenth  century,  would  lead  on  to  this 
conclusion,  giving  as  the  definition  of  the  word  gazzetta,  "A 
certain  Venetian  coin  scarce  worth  one  farthing;  also  a  bill 
of  news  or  short  relations  of  the  occurrences  of  the  times, 
printed  most  commonly  at  Venice,  and  thence  dispersed 
every  month  in  most  parts  of  Christendom."  It  was  not 
until  1612  that  the  gazzettas  of  the  Venetians  first  appeared 
as  numbered  sheets  but  some  years  previously  the  thirst  for 
news — now  well-nigh  unquenchable  in  every  civilized  part 
of  the  globe — had  spread  to  England. 

All  through  the  Middle  Ages  the  news-letters  were 
restrained  both  by  church  and  state.  The  privilege  of 
printing  them  was  withdrawn,  and  by  the  year  1500 
they  virtually  had  ceased  to  exist.  When  they  reap- 
peared they  were  under  strict  government  direction  and 
censorship.  The  use  of  movable  type  and  the  printing 
press  now  facilitated  their  production,  but  all  authority 
frowned  on  them  save  that  authority  which  made  use  of 
them  for  its  own  ends. 

The  newspaper  censorship  of  the  next  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  was  the  severest  ever  known.  Lord 
Burleigh,  who  was  Prime  Minister  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
reign,  seems,  however,  to  have  understood  the  value  of 
publicity — understood  that  a  handful  of  facts  is  worth 
a  hatful  of  rumors  when  it  comes  to  influencing  the 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  201 

people.  The  appearance  of  the  Spanish  Armada  in 
1588,  with  its  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  ships,  its 
twenty  thousand  soldiers  and  its  ten  thousand  sailors, 
bent  on  the  invasion  of  England,  had  long  been  looked 
for,  and  on  its  approach  the  people  were  overcome  with 
hysterical  excitement.  But  Burleigh  had  a  news-letter 
printed  from  day  to  day  telling  the  exact  facts  of  the 
situation  and  the  panic  subsided. 

Dr.  James  Melvin  Lee,  head  of  the  Department  of 
Journalism  in  New  York  University,  believes  that  the 
first  newspaper  to  be  printed  in  the  English  language 
was  published  in  Amsterdam,  December  2,  1620,  and  in 
proof  of  his  belief  he  produces  a  facsimile  of  the  sheet. 
It  was  half  sheet  folio  and  had  no  title.  A  descriptive 
of  the  battle  of  Weissenberg  was  its  chief  feature. 

In  a  discussion  as  to  the  early  use  of  the  word  "re- 
porter," Mr.  Henry  N.  Gary,  a  New  York  journalist, 
quotes  from  a  pamphlet  of  1613  of  which  the  title  is : 

The  Wonders  of  this  windie  winter,  by  terrible  stormes 
and  tempests,  to  the  losse  of  lives  and  goods  of  many 
thousands  of  men  women  and  children.  The  like  by  Sea  and 
Land  hath  not  been  scene  nor  heard  of  in  this  age  of  the 
world.  London.  Printed  by  G.  Eld  for  John  Wright,  and 
are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  neer  Christ-church  dore. 

In  this  pamphlet  is  the  following: 

Ships  were  perishing  to  the  number  of  a  hundred,  and 
forty  seafaring  men,  besides  other  passengers,  both  of  men 
and  women  which  at  that  time  made  their  watery  graves  in 
the  deep  sea.  This  first  strooke  feare  into  the  hearts  of 


202       THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 


people,  which  hath  since  seconded  with  many  calamities, 
which  lieth  heavily  upon  the  heart  of  the  reporter. 

The  details  of  this  storm's  destruction  are  far  less 
interesting  to  us  than  is  the  way  they  circulated  the 
news  in  1613  when  there  were  no  newspapers. 

For  the  next  one  hundred  years  the  news-sheet  was 
the  chief  source  of  information  to  the  English  people. 
A  few  weekly  newspapers  were  started,  the  first  being 
edited  by  Nathaniel  Butter,  in  1622.  It  was  called  the 
Weekly  News,  but  it  seems  to  have  had  few  readers. 
The  people  stuck  to  the  news-sheets  in  which  they  had 
confidence.  Possibly  they  did  not  credit  Butter's  yarns. 
Pendleton  quotes  two  of  them  as  specimens  of  seven- 
teenth century  journalism: 

A  true  relation  of  the  strange  appearance  of  a  man-fish 
about  three  miles  within  the  river  Thames,  having  a  musket 
in  one  hand  and  a  petition  in  the  other,  credibly  reported  by 
six  sailors  who  both  saw  and  talked  with  the  monster. 

A  perfect  mermaid  was  by  the  last  great  wind  driven 
ashore  near  Greenwich,  with  her  comb  in  one  hand  and 
her  looking-glass  in  the  other.  She  seemed  to  be  of  the 
countenancy  of  a  most  fair  and  beautiful  woman,  with  her 
arms  crossed,  weeping  out  many  pearly  drops  of  salt  tears ; 
and  afterwards  she,  gently  turning  herself  upon  her  back 
again,  swam  away  without  being  seen  again  any  more. 

Later  in  the  century  the  use  of  the  news-sbeet  became 
so  general  as  to  clog  the  mails.  Macaulay  writes  in- 
terestingly of  the  disseminating  of  information  in  those 
days: 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  203 

In  1685  nothing  like  the  London  daily  paper  of  our  time 
existed  or  could  exist.  Neither  the  necessary  capital  nor 
the  necessary  skill  was  to  be  found.  Freedom  too  was 
wanting,  a  want  as  fatal  as  that  of  either  capital  or  skill. 
During  the  great  battle  of  the  Exclusion  Bill,  many  news- 
papers were  suffered  to  appear.  None  of  them  was  pub- 
lished oftener  than  twice  a  week.  None  exceeded  in  size  a 
single  small  leaf.  The  quantity  of  matter  which  one  of 
them  contained  in  a  year  was  not  more  than  is  often  found 
in  two  numbers  of  the  Times.  After  the  defeat  of  the 
Whigs,  it  was  no  longer  necessary  for  the  King  to  be  spar- 
ing in  the  use  of  that  which  all  his  Judges  had  pronounced 
to  be  his  undoubted  prerogative.  At  the  close  of  his  reign 
no  newspaper  was  suffered  to  appear  without  his  allowance ; 
and  his  allowance  was  given  exclusively  to  the  London 
Gazette.  The  London  Gazette  came  out  only  on  Mondays 
and  Thursdays.  The  contents  were  generally  a  royal  proc- 
lamation, two  or  three  Tory  addresses,  notices  of  two  or 
three  promotions,  an  account  of  a  skirmish  between  the 
imperial  troops  and  the  Janissaries  on  the  Danube,  a  de- 
scription of  a  highwayman,  an  announcement  of  a  grand 
cockfight  between  two  persons  of  honor,  and  an  advertise- 
ment offering  a  reward  for  a  strayed  dog.  The  whole  made 
up  two  pages  of  moderate  size.  .  .  .  The  most  important 
parliamentary  debates,  the  most  important  state  trials,  re- 
corded in  our  history,  were  passed  over  in  profound  silence. 
In  the  capital  the  coffee  houses  supplied  in  some  measure 
the  place  of  a  journal.  Thither  the  Londoners  flocked  as 
the  Athenians  of  old  flocked  to  the  market  place,  to  hear 
whether  there  was  any  news.  There  men  might  learn  how 
brutally  a  Whig  had  been  treated  the  day  before  in  West- 
minster Hall,  what  horrible  accounts  the  letters  from  Edin- 
burg  gave  of  the  torturing  of  Covenanters,  how  grossly  the 
Navy  Board  had  cheated  the  crown  in  the  victualling  of 
the  fleet,  and  what  grave  charges  the  Lord  Privy  Seal  had 


204       THE   YOUNG    MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

brought  against  the  Treasury  in  the  matter  of  the  hearth 
money.  But  people  that  lived  at  a  distance  from  the  great 
theatre  of  political  contention  could  be  kept  informed  of 
what  was  passing  there  only  by  means  of  news-letters.  To 
prepare  such  letters  became  a  calling  in  London.  The  news- 
writer  rambled  from  coffee  room  to  coffee  room  collecting 
reports,  squeezed  himself  into  the  Sessions  House  of  the 
Old  Bailey  if  there  was  an  interesting  trial,  nay  perhaps 
obtained  admission  to  the  Gallery  of  Whitehall  and  noticed 
how  the  King  and  Duke  looked.  In  this  way  he  gathered 
materials  for  weekly  epistles  destined  to  enlighten  some 
country  town  or  some  bench  of  rustic  magistrates. 

Such  were  the  sources  from  which  the  inhabitants  of  the 
largest  provincial  cities  and  the  great  body  of  the  gentry 
and  clergy  learned  almost  all  they  knew  of  the  history  of 
their  own  times. 

We  must  suppose  that  at  Cambridge  there  were  as  many 
persons  curious  to  know  what  was  passing  in  the  world  as 
at  almost  any  other  place  in  the  kingdom  out  of  London. 
Yet  at  Cambridge  during  a  great  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
II,  the  Doctors  of  Laws  and  the  Masters  of  Arts  had  no 
regular  supply  of  news  except  the  London  Gazette.  At 
length  the  services  of  one  of  the  collectors  of  intelligence 
in  the  capital  were  employed.  It  was  a  memorable  day  on 
which  the  first  news-letter  from  London  was  laid  on  the 
table  of  the  only  coffee  house  room  in  Cambridge. 

At  the  seat  of  a  man  of  fortune  in  the  country  the  news- 
letter was  impatiently  expected.  Within  a  week  after  it  had 
arrived  it  had  been  thumbed  by  twenty  families.  It  fur- 
nished the  neighboring  squires  with  matter  for  talk  over 
their  October,  and  the  neighboring  rectors  with  topics  for 
sharp  sermons  against  Whiggery  and  Popery. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  there  were  then  no 
provincial  newspapers.  Indeed  except  at  the  capital  and 
at  the  two  Universities  there  was  scarcely  a  printer  in  the 
kingdom. 


NEWSPAPER    HISTORY  205 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  newspaper  business  at 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II. — a  period  dis- 
tinguished by  less  interest  in  literature  and  study  than 
any  period  of  England's  history  after  the  Elizabethan 
revival  of  learning.  The  reading  of  books  and  the 
search  for  information  had  been  abandoned  in  the  quest 
for  pleasure.  The  people  had  joined  in  imitating  the 
profligacy,  the  licentiousness  and  the  revels  of  Charles's 
court.  They  who  champion  the  newspaper  as  a  great 
uplifting  influence  in  community  might  instance  these 
profligate  days  in  which  there  were  no  newspapers  and 
compare  them  with  later  years. 

But  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century  brought 
fresh  impetus  to  study  and  a  new  interest  in  literature. 
Several  weekly  newspapers  had  been  set  going.  The 
first  daily  newspaper  was  started  in  London  in  1702. 
It  was  called  the  Courant.  It  was  a  small  single-sheet 
publication  printed  on  one  side  only,  and  it  gave  but 
a  meager  assortment  of  news  items.  It  refrained  from 
expressing  opinions,  the  editor  saying  that  "he  would 
give  no  comments  of  his  own  as  he  assumed  that  people 
had  sense  enough  to  make  reflections  for  themselves." 
Scores  of  editors  even  to  the  present  day  have  launched 
initial  numbers  of  their  editions  with  this  same  resolu- 
tion, expressed  in  the  same  way,  but  somehow  it  does 
not  last  long. 

Then  came  the  Review  founded  by  Defoe,  and  Richard 
Steele's  Tatler  and  the  Spectator  by  Steele  and  Joseph 
Addison,  which  publications  mark  the  real  beginnings  of 
journalism.  By  this  time  Pope  and  Swift,  William 
Walsh,  whom  Dryden  praised  as  a  great  critic,  and 


206       THE   YOUNG    MAN    AND    JOURNALISM 

Arthur  Maynwaring  and  others  of  the  famous  Kit  Cat 
Club  were  writing  for  the  periodicals. 

Editorial  comment,  or  the  expression  of  editorial 
opinion  seems  to  have  had  no  place  in  newspapers  until 
toward  the  close  of  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II.  Then, 
while  the  London  Gazette,  appearing  under  govern- 
ment direction,  was  printing  news  only,  Sir  Roger  Le- 
strange  was  permitted  to  print  a  journal  of  comment 
without  news,  called  the  Observator.  Lestrange  had 
been  a  Tory  pamphleteer,  and  for  a  short  time  had 
edited  small  news-sheets  and  under  the  government.  He 
had  been  Surveyor  of  Printing  Offices  and  Licensor  of 
the  Press.  The  Observator  was  ferociously  against  the 
Whigs  and  the  Protestants.  Because  editorial  comment 
was  new,  it  focused  much  attention.  Here  was  the 
first  editor  to  write  violent  political  editorial  articles. 
He  confined  his  subjects  to  politics  and  to  religion 
which  was  then  a  part  of  the  politics  of  the  day.  He 
inspired  a  host  of  imitators  and  the  leading  article,  of 
which  he  was  the  parent,  has  been  the  leading  feature  of 
all  journalism  ever  since.  Great  in  its  political  use,  im- 
mediately after  him,  were  Dean  Swift  in  his  Examiner, 
and  Daniel  Defoe  in  the  Review  which  he  started  in  1704 
while  in  jail  for  political  offense. 

It  was  just  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
that  Steele  and  Addison  began  their  Taller  and  Spec- 
tator. Their  first  impulse  was  to  write  of  politics,  for 
Steele  was  alive  with  political  zeal  and  Addison  was 
interested;  but  presently  they  seemingly  sensed  the 
opportunity  for  success  in  the  new  direction  of  a 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  207 

publication  given  to  the  elucidation  and  the  discussion 
of  general  topics,  of  subjects  on  which  politics  was  un- 
likely to  produce  diversion  of  opinion — social  life,  play- 
house criticism,  literature,  morals,  ethics  and  personal 
conduct.  The  Spectator  was  printed  daily.  To  the 
policy  of  minimizing  politics  and  exalting  general  topics 
of  interest  it  adhered. 

Newspapers  and  periodicals  increased  rapidly  after 
this  time.  Henry  Fielding,  the  novelist,  was  editor  of 
the  True  Patriot  in  1745  and  the  Jacobite  Journal  in 
1747.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  started  the  Rambler  in 
1750  and  the  Idler  in  1758.  In  1714,  eleven  papers 
were  appearing  in  London.  In  1733,  the  number  had 
increased  to  eighteen  and  in  1776,  to  fifty-three. 

John  Wilkes  in  his  newspaper  the  North  Briton  ac- 
cused the  king  of  lying  in  his  address  at  the  opening  of 
Parliament  in  1762,  for  which  Wilkes  was  committed  to 
the  tower  and  expelled  from  the  house,  of  which  he  had 
been  a  member. 

Oliver  Goldsmith  wrote  his  delightful  letters  from  "A 
Citizen  of  the  World"  for  the  Public  Ledger.  Samuel 
Taylor  Coleridge,  Hazlitt  and  John  Campbell  were 
writers  for  the  Morning  Chronicle. 

And  in  after  years,  contributing  to  the  London  Times 
at  one  period  or  another  as  writers,  were:  Beaconsfield, 
Lord  Chancellor  Brougham,  Cardinal  Newman,  Lord 
Grey,  Lord  Macaulay,  Sir  William  Harcourt,  Moore, 
Dean  Stanley,  Lord  Sherbrook,  and  Dr.  Groley. 

The  constant  and  consistent  progress  of  the  news- 
paper since  its  feeble  beginnings,  and  especially  its  de- 


208       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

velopment  in  the  last  two  hundred  years,  attest  its  im- 
portance to  mankind.  Rarely,  indeed,  has  progress 
been  more  deliberate;  rarely  has  it  been  more  substan- 
tial. Long  years  of  experience  with  it  have  tested  and 
verified  the  newspaper's  usefulness. 

Thirst  for  news  and  for  information  has  always  pre- 
vailed and  newspaper  progress  undoubtedly  must  have 
taken  a  vigorous  spurt  with  the  invention  of  type  and 
printing  but  for  the  reason  that  both  church  and  state 
joined  in  its  repression.  In  1685,  at  the  close  of  the 
reign  of  King  Charles  II.  there  were  in  all  England  two 
newspapers  only,  worthy  of  the  name,  and  both  of  them 
were  under  the  strict  supervision  of  the  royal  censor. 

The  first  real  jump  in  newspaper  progress  came  with 
the  relaxation  of  government  repression  just  after  the 
year  1700.  It  was  then  that  Addison,  Steele,  Defoe, 
Fielding,  Swift  and  Dr.  Johnson,  gave  the  real  begin- 
nings to  journalism.  Thereafter,  for  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  the  advance  and  improvement  in  the  making 
of  newspapers  were  deliberate  and  irresistible.  From 
chatterers  and  gossipers  only  the  journals  came  grad- 
ually to  be  leaders  of  thought  and  of  public  opinion  and 
circulators  of  essential  information.  But  the  change  in 
them  was  so  slow  as  to  be  almost  unnoticed  from  year 
to  year. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  however, 
came  the  invention  of  the  modern  printing  press  which 
permits  the  printing  of  a  newspaper  of  thirty-five  pages 
or  more  at  the  rate  of  thirty  thousand  or  more  copies 
an  hour;  the  invention  of  the  stereotyping  process  by 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  209 

which  newspaper  pages  may  be  duplicated  to  indefinite 
numbers,  in  solid  metal,  and  used  on  an  indefinite  num- 
ber of  presses  in  the  printing  of  a  single  edition;  and 
the  invention  of  the  typesetting  machine  by  which  type 
may  be  cast  and  placed  with  something  like  six  times 
the  speed  of  the  old-time  process  of  hand  composition. 
They  were  marvelous  inventions. 

These  inventions  removed  mechanical  difficulties  that 
had  confined  the  size  and  restricted  the  circulation  of 
newspapers,  and  great  changes  came  quickly.  Hereto- 
fore the  newspapers  had  been  restricted  to  eight  pages 
and  many  of  them  printed  four  pages  only;  but  imme- 
diately twenty  and  twenty-four  page  editions  appeared 
and  thirty-five  and  forty  page  ones  are  common  now. 
This  great  increase  in  volume  permitted  a  like  increase 
in  scope  and  we  now  see  in  the  newspapers  a  mass  of 
information  on  an  innumerable  number  of  topics.  More- 
over, all  changes  in  national  or  social  life  bring  changes 
in  newspapers.  Big  business  brought  big  newspapers, 
as  soon  as  they  could  be  made. 

Greatly  increased  newspaper  importance  has  followed 
this  expansion.  It  is  possible  to  present  great  events 
with  a  fullness  of  detail  and  an  attention  to  side  issues 
hitherto  unknown.  A  senator's  attack  on  the  Adminis- 
tration may  be  printed  in  full — six  or  seven  columns  of 
it.  An  investigation  involving  the  conduct  of  the  war 
may  be  reported  question  and  answer  verbatim.  Pages 
are  devoted  to  a  catastrophe  like  the  blowing  up  of 
Halifax  that  a  few  years  ago  would  have  been  described 
in  as  many  columns.  Scores  of  special  articles  are 


210       THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

printed  the  like  of  which  never  had  found  place  in  the 
daily  newspaper.  And  in  the  evening  sheets,  especially, 
are  department  features  intended  to  interest  women  and 
children,  funny  picture  series,  puzzles,  medical  informa- 
tion, screeds,  and  freak  features — all  of  which  empha- 
size the  very  great  change  from  comparatively  a  few 
years  ago.  And  every  change  from  the  beginning  has 
been  in  the  direction  of  progress,  has  made  the  newspa- 
per a  greater  and  a  better  product,  has  given  to  it  the 
increased  confidence  of  the  public.  Confidence  in  a 
production  of  any  sort  usually  is  withheld  until  experi- 
ence has  tested  and  verified  it.  The  value  and  the  im- 
portance of  the  newspaper  have  come  to  be  firmly  es- 
tablished. 

Many  persons  do  not  require  the  services  of  a  lawyer. 
Many  rarely  employ  a  physician.  Thousands  seldom 
listen  to  a  clergyman.  But  in  these  wide-awake  days 
everybody  of  any  account  must  read  the  newspaper, 
for  the  reading  of  the  newspaper  has  come  to  be  abso- 
lutely essential  to  the  daily  routine  of  every  intelligent 
person.  The  things  we  read  in  the  morning  newspaper 
are  the  things  we  talk  about  during  the  day.  If  you 
are  interested  in  politics,  or  if  you  are  interested  in 
finance,  or  the  fluctuations  of  prices,  or  the  movements 
of  society,  or  any  phase  of  trade  or  commerce,  or  in 
any  of  the  vital  questions  of  the  hour — for  all  of  these 
you  turn  to  the  newspaper.  The  things  taught  in  the 
colleges  are  the  things  of  the  past,  or  the  principles  that 
experience  has  tested  and  verified.  The  things  taught 
by  the  newspapers  are  the  things  of  the  present.  You 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  211 

cannot  learn  politics  from  a  textbook.  You  must  ab- 
sorb the  politics  of  the  day  by  a  study  of  the  events  of 
the  day.  Your  financial  policy  must  be  governed  by 
existing  monetary  conditions  rather  than  by  conclu- 
sions drawn  from  the  panic  of  1873  or  that  of  1907. 
The  events  of  the  day,  the  progress  of  the  day,  are  of 
more  importance  to  the  man  in  business  life  or  the  man 
in  social  life  than  any  other  consideration.  The  news- 
paper is  his  great  source  of  inspiration  and  instruction. 
The  newspaper  informs  you,  instructs  you,  influences 
you,  amuses  you,  inspires  you,  directs  your  thoughts, 
assists  your  conclusions,  fires  your  ambitions,  enlarges 
your  vocabulary — all  of  which  are  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  you.  It  may  be  said,  therefore,  with  con- 
fident complacency  that  the  profession  of  journalism 
rests  on  the  solid  foundation  of  supplying  an  essential 
need. 

In  a  lecture  before  the  students  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, Mr.  John  Lee  Mahin  said : 

The  family  that  pays  a  cent  or  two  for  its  big  morning 
newspaper  receives  a  carefully  digested  review  of  the  polit- 
ical, economic,  social  and  commercial  activities  of  the  entire 
world  for  the  previous  twenty-four  hours.  Probably  five 
hundred  men  in  New  York  City  would  pay  a  thousand 
dollars  a  year  each  for  the  commercial  information  alone 
that  they  receive  from  the  New  York  Times  if  they  could 
not  obtain  it  in  any  other  way. 

In  considering  these  changes  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  journalism  of  fifty  years  ago  was  conspicuous 
for  the  reason  that  a  famous  bunch  of  editors  stamped 


212      THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

their  personality  on  almost  every  column.  It  was  the 
period  of  personal  journalism.  These  editors  were  in- 
spired by  the  tragedies  and  the  ferocities  of  the  Civil 
War  and  by  the  magnitude  and  the  political  importance 
of  events  involving  as  they  believed  the  very  life  of  the 
nation.  They  were  made  conspicuous  by  the  very  great- 
ness of  the  causes  that  moved  their  minds  and  their  pens. 
They  were  stimulated  to  the  limit  of  mental  exaltation 
in  what  they  wrote.  The  country  was  surging  with  ex- 
citement. Part  of  the  people  were  clamoring  for  peace 
on  any  terms.  Others  insisted  on  fighting  the  war  to 
a  finish  at  any  cost  of  life  or  money.  Still  others  were 
for  compromise.  It  is  hardly  possible  for  generations 
of  to-day  to  appreciate  how  intensely  the  war  agitated 
the  people.  The  editors  fought  each  other  with  a 
ferocity  otherwise  unknown  in  American  journalism. 
They  were  the  people's  champions  and  their  names  were 
known  in  every  household ;  and  doubtless  their  names 
will  live  for  years  to  come  as  the  country's  greatest 
editors. 

Nevertheless,  let  it  be  said,  in  all  truth,  that  we  have 
to-day  scores  of  editors  equally  capable  of  producing 
the  crisp  and  pungent  paragraphs  as  well  as  the  pro- 
found editorial  articles  of  Prentice,  Greeley,  Raymond, 
Dana,  Bryant,  Bowles,  Watterson,  Medill  and  Manton 
Marble.  The  personal  journalism  of  that  day  was 
impetuous  and  impressive,  but  latterly  and  by  degrees, 
in  the  big  cities  especially,  "the  supreme  importance  of 
the  editor  has  been  transformed  into  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  the  newspaper,"  and  we  hear  less  about 
the  editor  and  more  about  the  newspaper  itself. 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  213 

This  effacement  of  individuality  influences  to  exalt 
the  newspaper  and  to  exalt  journalism  as  a  profession. 
The  greatly  enlarged  field  has  attracted  thousands  of 
most  excellent  writers,  fine  editors,  conductors,  and 
managers.  News-gathering  and  news-presentation  are 
now  regarded  as  of  supreme  importance.  Our  pages 
bristle  with  specialties.  Our  Sunday  editions  are  mag- 
azines of  information.  The  great  modern  newspaper 
represents  the  product  of  the  profession  rather  than  the 
genius  of  a  single  writer. 

It  was  not  so  fifty  years  ago.  These  men,  whose 
names  have  come  down  to  us,  were  great  editorial  writ- 
ers rather  than  great  editors  of  the  entire  newspaper. 
Aside  from  the  editorial  page  their  editions  were  devoid 
of  genius.  The  news  columns  were  slovenly  in  appear- 
ance and  dull  in  narration.  They  lacked  the  cunning  of 
embellishment  with  the  flavor  of  literature  and  the 
charm  of  fiction.  The  book  reviews,  the  critical  articles 
were  excellent — but  the  editors  daubed  dullness  over 
everything  else.  The  newspaper  of  that  day  is  not  to 
be  compared  with  the  newspaper  of  to-day  in  general 
excellence. 

The  editorial  pages  and  the  criticisms,  however,  were 
of  high  excellence.  It  was  a  literary  era  and  the 
literary  impulse  was  a  conspicuous  factor  in  public 
thought.  Marble,  Dana,  Bryant,  Curtis  and  others 
made  reputations  for  literary  excellence  in  journal- 
istic work  that  would  not  to-day  attract  so  much  at- 
tention; for  literary  excellence,  while  commended  and 
appreciated,  is  not  so  much  insisted  on,  encouraged,  or 
taught,  as  it  was  forty  years  ago. 


214      THE  YOUNG   MAN   AND   JOURNALISM 

The  foreign  correspondence  of  that  day  as  printed  in 
the  newspapers  consisted  largely  of  descriptions  of 
scenery  and  revelations  of  the  writers'  emotions  while 
climbing  to  Alpine  heights  or  floating  by  moonlight  on 
the  silent  waters  of  Italian  lakes.  It  was  written  mostly 
by  staff  members  who  were  on  vacation  trips  and  who 
were  inspired  by  the  travel  notes  of  Washington  Irving 
and  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  that  had  obtained  great  at- 
tention. The  journals  of  fifty  years  ago  did  not  main- 
tain regular  correspondents  abroad.  All  first  class  im- 
portant papers  to-day  have  representatives  in  the  cap- 
itals of  Europe,  but  they  do  not  write  descriptions  of 
scenery.  Some  of  the  foreign  correspondence  of  that 
day  was  very  good,  however,  notably  that  of  Bayard 
Taylor  for  the  New  York  Tribune. 

The  most  conspicuous  difference  between  the  news- 
papers of  1850  or  1860  and  those  of  to-day  is  in  the 
treatment  of  news.  Very  little  space  was  given  then  to 
really  important  events.  The  national  convention  that 
nominated  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  was  reported 
in  two  columns  or  so,  whereas  to-day  from  three  to  six 
pages  are  required.  A  bare  half  column  was  given  to 
the  stock  market.  The  commercial  markets  were  equally 
pinched ;  two  or  three  pages  of  matter  are  now  devoted 
to  them.  There  was  no  real  estate  department.  The 
court  calendars  were  not  printed  for  the  lawyers,  nor 
the  list  of  buyers  in  town  for  the  merchants;  nor  was 
there  a  sporting  page,  or  a  woman's  page,  or  a  list  of 
school  teachers  appointed,  or  of  policemen  transferred, 
or  of  firemen  granted  a  leave  of  absence.  The  news  was 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  215 

presented  in  the  most  perfunctory  and  routine  fashion, 
with  no  attempt  to  make  it  attractive  or  interesting. 
News  collecting  had  not  been  systematized  or  especially 
studied,  as  to-day.  The  Associated  Press  was  in  its 
infancy,  devoting  itself  almost  entirely  to  congress  pro- 
ceedings and  to  market  reports.  Raw  reporters  were 
permitted  to  intersperse  their  own  comments  through 
what  they  wrote  and  their  conclusions  received  little 
revision  or  supervision.  Every  line  in  the  modern  news- 
paper is  revised  by  a  copy  reader  editor  and  not  a  sug- 
gestion of  reportorial  opinion  is  permitted.  The  edition 
of  fifty  years  ago  was  more  or  less  subject  to  haphazard 
inexactitude  and  casual  error. 

The  present-day  newspaper  is  prepared  with  great 
care.  Its  ambitious  articles  are  studied  out.  The  errors 
in  its  news  columns  are  the  results  of  haste  rather  than 
ignorance — the  haste  compelled  by  necessity  in  getting 
to  press  on  the  minute.  The  Sunday  edition  supple- 
ments, devoted  to  general  topics  and  to  literature,  are 
already  taking  the  place  of  many  kinds  of  literature. 
They  print  new  fiction  by  popular  authors.  They  ex- 
ploit and  expand  the  latest  developments  in  science,  art, 
music,  medicine,  mechanics,  construction,  transporta- 
tion— indeed,  anything  that  is  new  or  important.  They 
quickly  transfer  to  their  columns  any  important  matter 
contained  in  a  new  book. 

The  reading  of  newspapers  is  immeasurably  greater 
than  the  reading  of  any  other  kind  of  matter.  The 
new  book  of  which  fifty  thousand  copies  are  sold  is 
called  very  successful,  of  which  one  hundred  thousand 


216      THE   YOUNG   MAN   AND    JOURNALISM 

are  sold  is  pronounced  a  wonder,  of  which  two  hundred 
thousand  are  sold,  phenomenal.  Yet  in  New  York  City 
alone  a  million  and  a  half  newspapers  are  printed  every 
morning  and  nearly  two  millions  every  afternoon.  In 
America,  millions  of  persons  who  do  not  read  more  than 
five  books  in  a  year  read  a  newspaper  or  two  every  day. 

And  the  newspaper  of  to-day  is  a  better  paper  be- 
cause it  is  more  accurate  of  statement  and  more  faithful 
to  fact,  and  more  fair-minded  in  the  presentation  of 
passing  events.  The  long  weary  day  of  misrepresenta- 
tion in  news  reports  is  drawing  to  its  close.  The  chief 
events  of  the  time  are  recorded  with  such  fidelity  to  ac- 
curacy that  in  future  years  they  must  be  accepted  as 
historically  correct.  All  decent  newspapers  now  take 
pride  in  their  accuracy  of  statement  in  the  news  columns 
and  there  is  little  intentional  misrepresentation.  In 
our  political  campaigns  the  attitude  of  each  candidate 
is  decently  described  and  what  he  says  is  faithfully  re- 
ported and  made  equally  conspicuous.  In  this  respect 
the  newspapers  have  changed  greatly  within  a  few 
years. 

Moreover,  the  collection  of  news  has  been  greatly 
facilitated  by  increased  telegraph  and  telephone  and 
ocean  cable  efficiency.  These  agents  give  much  better 
transmission,  making  communication  with  all  parts  of 
the  world  little  short  of  instantaneous.  Speaking  of  the 
benefits  to  the  world  secured  through  electricity,  Mr. 
W.  W.  Harris  said  in  a  recent  address: 

When  the  Norsemen  were  on  their  way  to  the  discovery 
of  America  they  had  no  compass ;  yet  the  compass  had  been 


NEWSPAPER   HISTORY  217 

discovered  by  the  Chinese  many  centuries  before.  But  the 
news  of  the  compass  had  not  in  all  these  centuries  gotten 
half  way  around  the  world.  And  the  science  of  navigation 
came  not  until  that  piece  of  news  had  made  its  way  to  the 
European  world.  To-day  any  important  fact  girdles  the 
globe  in  a  cable's  flash. 

The  newspapers  of  to-day  are  better  because  more 
study  and  thought  are  put  into  their  construction.  Not 
only  are  the  editorial  writers  men  of  education,  but 
the  sub-editors,  the  night  editors,  the  revisers  of  copy 
and  the  reporters  are  mostly  educated  men — men  who 
have  been  taught  where  to  seek  and  how  to  find  informa- 
tion, who  have  been  taught  to  be  confident  and  self- 
reliant  and  original.  The  proportion  of  college-bred 
men  on  newspaper  staffs  is  much  greater  than  it  used 
to  be,  and  the  intelligence  of  the  staffs  has  increased 
in  the  same  proportion.  The  modern  newspaper  wants 
men  of  brains  who  know  how  to  use  their  brains — men 
who  can  think  rapidly  and  act  instantly. 

This  unceasing,  irresistible,  cumulative  progress  is 
making  newspapers  more  important,  is  making  the  pro- 
fession of  journalism  more  attractive.  Even  as  years 
of  experience  and  study  and  laborious  patient  applica- 
tion have  perfected  and  solidified  the  practice  of  law 
and  medicine,  have  made  firm  and  substantial  the  de- 
velopments of  electricity  and  mechanics,  and  have  solved 
the  problems  of  transportation  and  great  business,  so 
the  making  of  newspapers  is  settling  down  to  a  strong 
substantial  basis. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  89 
Acta  Diurna,  197 
Addison,  Joseph,  89 
Arnold,  Sir  Edward  to  Tenny- 
son, 64 

Barnato,  Barnard,  110 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  93,  173 
Bowles,  Samuel,  91,  148 
Brisbane,  Arthur,  174 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  147 
Burleigh,  Lord,  200 
Butler,  Samuel,  55 
Butter,  Nathaniel,  202 

Gary,  Henry  N.,  201 

Cable,  Costs,  107,  112,  190 

Censorship,   164 

Chaucer,  65 

Christian  Science  Monitor,  The, 

89 

City  Editor,  The,  2 
Conquests,    the    public's    great 

interest    in    any    kind    of    a 

fight,  97 

Copy  Readers,  29,  35 
Correspondent,  the  Washington, 

10,  12 
Correspondent,      the      Foreign, 

112 

Corbett,  James,  97 
Courant,  The  London,  205 
Crooke,  William,  18 

Dana,  Charles  Anderson,  his 
fine  leadership,  48;  great  as 
an  editor,  61;  advice  to  his 
Managing  Editor,  62;  on 


hasty  editorial  writing,  80; 
on  making  the  Sun  talked 
about,  94 

Dickens,  Charles,  experience  as 
a  reporter,  16 

Edison,  first  public  test  of  the 

household  electric  light,  13 
Editorial  writer,  The,  76,  78 
Editorial  council,  The,  79 
Editor  in  chief,  The,  79 
Editor,  letters   to,  80 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  52 
Exaggeration,  where  it  may  be 
tolerated,  70 

Field,  Eugene,  148 

Field,  William  H,  194 

Fiske,  John,  181 

Forney,  Colonel  John  W.,  35 

Fourth  Estate,  The,  119 

France,  Anatole,  68 

Froude,  James  Anthony,  148 

Gazette,  The  PeJan,  197 

Gazette,  The  London,  206 

George,  Lloyd,  111 

Gladden,   Washington,   157 

Gosse,  Edmund,  56 

Gray,  55 

Greeley,  Horace,  61,  91,  94,  147 

Harris,  W.  W.,  216 

Hay,  John,  148 

Halsted,  Murat,  148 

Hearn,    Lafcadio,    53,    55,    89, 

172 

Hearst,  William  R.,  88 
Heenan,  John  C.,  97 


219 


220 


INDEX 


Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  148 
Howells,  W.  D.,  148 

Imitation,  its  repressive  influ- 
ence against  a  writer's  ad- 
vancement, 135 

Irving,  Washington,  65 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  148 
Jenkins,   how  he  got   a  job  as 

reporter,  18 

Johnson,  Samuel,  56,  173 
Journal,  The  New  York,  101 

Lausanne,  St^phane,  149 
Lee,  James  Melvin,  201 
Lestrange,  Roger,  206 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  159 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  55,  71,  202 
Machiavelli,  59 
Mahin,  John  Lee,  211 
Mail,  London  Daily,  185 
Managing  Editor,  46-49 
Medill,  Joseph,  148 

Nelson,  Colonel  William  Rock- 
hill,  15 

Newspaper,  the  modern,  made 
with  bewildering  speed,  43 

Newspaper,  the  village,  its  op- 
portunities for  community 
service,  130 

Newspaper  specialties,  those 
embracing  politics  and  finance 
the  most  important,  180 

Newspapers,  indispensable  to 
republican  or  representative 
form  of  government.  The 
government  speaks  to  the 
people  through  them,  161 

News,  local,  does  not  exist  in 
New  York  City;  all  impor- 
tant in  the  village,  140 

Northcliffe,  Lord,  173,  175 

Observator,  The,  206 
Ochs,  Adolph  S.,  91 


Patriot,  The  Fulton,  N.  T.,  130 

Pendleton,  John,  12,  199 

Policy,  newspaper,  its  reversal 
is  dangerous  to  its  pros- 
perity, 91 

Price,  Charles  W.,  117 

Proof  reading,  40 

Publications,  technical  and  class, 
119 

Pulitzer,  Joseph,  87 

Quiller-Couch,  Sir  Arthur,  54, 
158 


Reid,  Whitelaw,  94 

Reporter,  his  beginnings  and 
progress,  1-9;  the  political, 
8-10;  his  unpleasant  tasks,  22 

Reporters,  first  announcements 
of  great  events  made  by,  13 

Review,  The,  205 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  31 

Rossetti,  55 

Sainte   Beuve,  56 
Saintsbury,  George,  53 
Salaries,  newspaper,  146 
Sayers,  Tom,  97 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  55 
Seitz,  Don,  102 

Sensationalism,  wherein  harm- 
ful, 103 

Smith,  Sidney,  70 
Spectator,  The,  205 
Stead,  William  T.,  67 
Syndicate  service,  138 
System,  121 
Sun,  The  Evening,  102 

Talleyrand,  25 
Tatler,  The,  205,  206 
Thackeray,  William  M.,  174 
Times,  The  New  York,  91 
Times,  The  London,   187 
Titanic,  steamship,  loss  of:  how 
reported,  44 


INDEX 


221 


Tolstoy,  55 

Tribune,  The  Chicago,  91 

Tribune,  The  New  York,  91 

Victorian  Literature,  Era  of, 
83 

Village,  the  American,  its  news- 
paper opportunities,  132 

War,  its  supreme  interest  to 
newspaper  readers,  99 


Weather,  the:  its  importance 
and  interest  to  the  reader, 
100 

Webster,  Noah,  148 

Wells,  H.  G.,  17 

West,  Dean,  67 

Whitman,  Walt,  148 

Whittier,  John  G.,  148 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  58,  69,  159, 
162 

Writer,  The,  60 


RETURN       CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TO""^       202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

1 -month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling  642-3405 
6-month  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books  to  Circulation  Des 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  due  date 

DUE   AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


BEC.  ClllWfi  16  11 

MAY  17  1989 

,]G1V9 

FORM  NO.  DD  6, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELE^ 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


14134 


4Q4322 


Y 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


